Something There
by TheCheeryCherry
Summary: AU: Rich, Grace and Alo are best friends, but Grace and Rich are beginning to find themselves having more than friendly feelings towards one of their friends. REVIEW FOR RAPIDITY (M for swearing and scenes of a sexual nature)
1. Metal Princess

**Something There**

**Chapter 1: Metal Princess**

violetsaregrace (21:31) Click that link!

violetsaregrace (21:35) Did you finish watching?

Hardbeck (21:35) I spent approx. 2 seconds on that video before closing it.

violetsaregrace (21:35) Awwww Rich! I love that song though

Hardbeck (21:36) That was a song? You actually call that music?

(alosexgod has joined the chat)

alosexgod (21:36) OI! You guys need to start adding me to the convo.

Hardbeck (21:36) Sure, if you're planning on changing your username anytime soon.

violetsaregrace (21:37) It is a little off-putting, Alopops! Sorry

alosexgod (21:37) Whatever, can't stop this hotness… I miss shortstuff, is Franks getting on tonight?

violetsaregrace (21:38) I miss her too, but I think she's busy tonight. I need to go soon anyway to get ready for the 1st day of school 2moz!

Hardbeck (21:38) Argh you're still excited for that?

violetsaregrace (21:38) BEYOND!

alosexgod (21:39) Me too! New girls, less classes = amazeballs

Hardbeck (21:40) More demanding classes? And more girls to reject you? Glad you're excited about that.

violetsaregrace (21:40) Hush… Anyway Alo and I have a secret mission for 2moz!

alosexgod (21:40) Oh fuck… Yeah, almost forgot!

Hardbeck (21:41) Uhmm what 'mission'?

violetsaregrace (21:41) It was Alo's idea, but I fully support it.

alosexgod (21:43) We're getting you a girl! CLUNGEEEEE

violetsaregrace (21:43) Ewww

Hardbeck (21:44) WHAT? Ugh I do not trust you guys at all.

violetsaregrace (21:45) Don't worry we'll find you a Metal Princess! :D

* * *

><p>"First class?" My Dad asks sharply, as he leads the way through the hallway.<p>

I glance down at my neatly drawn out timetable and make the decision to color code it during my free later on. First class of my A Level studies is English Literature.

"English Lit." He nods tersely before realizing he didn't ask which classroom yet. He opens his mouth slightly to ask, but I answer first. "B22"

He switches directions suddenly, so I have to run behind him with my over-the-shoulder bag hitting the back of my legs as I do so. Jesus, two tall parents and I end up so tiny. I bump right into his back as he stops abruptly in front of a classroom. I peer inside and see my two best friends sitting on the other side of the room. I am too busy panting from the walk to say anything other than, "Thanks Daddy." I side step around him to join my friends, but it seems like my Dad has a whole lecture planned for me.

"Have a productive day, Gracie. Listen to everything the teachers tell you." He takes one hand out from behind his back so he can wag a finger at me. "Remember you _have_ to get all As, so don't spend all your time gossiping with these dimwits you call friends." I have to suppress the urge to giggle at the fact he said 'gossiping' and also the urge to roll my eyes as he has always disapproved of my dimwits. I tune out for the next two minutes, but make sure to keep nodding. Finally he kisses my head awkwardly. "Have a good day."

I take a step into the room, but my Father's voice makes me turn my head back around.

"I almost forgot….' He says, as if he is about to reveal the secret to living to infinity. "No chewing gum!"

I give a forced smile, trying to make it seem like I value this information more than anything else and finally run over to my boys. I know they will positively hate me calling them my boys… Well, I know one definitely hates it anyway. They are named Alo and Rich; Alo is wonderful, funny and lives on a farm, which really is fucking cool. Rich, on the other hand, can be moody, judgmental and sometimes a complete sod, but for some reason we get on well. I hover over their desk as Rich stretches his arms over his head to yawn.

"Were you just getting the Blood Daily lecture?" He asks, smirking knowingly. Six, nearly seven, years of friendship means he knew a lot about my family; even though my Dad would rather them not know anything about him. I nod and decide to joke along with him.

"Yes and the most valuable lesson I learnt was no chewing gum." I say, raising my head a little higher to look snobbish. Rich sniggers and shakes his head. Alo calls my name in a bored tone to get my attention.

"You coming to Fishponds later?" I sigh, shaking my head.

"I have ballet today." Alo shrugs, but Rich seemed to be frowning although it is nearly unnoticeable.

"Take your seats!" A teacher's booming voice says, as I glance around realizing there is no seat next to my friends.

"Ummm… where am I supposed to be sitting?" I whisper urgently to the boys. They simultaneously point to the seat in front of them; it is a lonely seat in the front of the class. I raise my eyebrows in shock.

"By myself?!" I sadly remember then how it is usually Franky and I sitting next to each other, but she moved away. I sit down and turn my head slightly to give them a glare. I know how much they dislike 'The Grace Glare', as they call it. I sulkily turn back to the front and give them the silent treatment the whole time. I even ignore being hit on the back of my head with a scrunched up piece of paper. The teacher notices it though and shouts at Alo for being an immature boy. I decide to forgive them then, because I couldn't help but laugh along with Rich at Alo's misfortune.

* * *

><p>"Gracie, who's that?" Alo asks with his mouth full of his burger. I glance behind me to see who he was pointing at in a very not-so-subtle way. I see a tall, blonde girl who is giggling and pointing at someone else with another girl who has shorter and has dark skin and black hair cut in some unusual style. I have never really had friends who were girls, apart from Franky and I think she's the only girl Rich would ever really approve of. I'm an exception, because he has known me since we were little, but we only met Franky 3 or 4 years ago.<p>

"I don't know," I say simply, turning back around in my seat. Rich nudges Alo in the ribs and before he can curse loudly, Rich says;

"Why would Grace know? We only just got here."

"She's a girl, they're girls." Alo says with a grimace due to the pain he was in, as Rich and I exchange a smile at Alo's logic. "Anyway they were in our English class and maybe you all had drama together."

I give a little shake of my head to disprove Alo's theory as I chew on the last bite of my tuna sandwich.

"We should get to class…" I say, beginning to stand up and wave at Alo. "Have fun in ICT, Alopops!"

I look at Rich expectantly, but he seems a little slow on the uptake.

"What?" He mumbles, shoving a few more chips into his mouth. "Still five minutes left."

"I don't know the way, do you?" I ask sounding a little whiney, walking around to his side of the table and pulling lightly on his arm. He gives out a loud groan and finally stands up after grabbing the last few chips.

"Fucking hell, alright. Just get off me please." I smirk and lead the way out, giving another wave in Alo's direction but he is entranced by the blonde girl sitting across the room.

History is the first class of the day where I am able to sit next to one of my friends, even if this one keeps being grumpy and rolling his eyes at things I say. We were given an exercise about Hitler's timeline to test how much we remembered from GCSE's. I have to poke Rich in his side every time he refuses to show me the answers.

"Why are you taking History anyway?" He asks rather rudely, after I poked him once too many times. I cough before sitting up a little straighter.

"Well, along with Drama, French, Music and English I figured I needed something a little more…" I purse my lips as I try to think of the right word. "Academic."

He still doesn't seem satisfied with my answer and narrows his eyes at me. "Yeah… I thought you were going to pick Biology." I nod.

"I was wondering whether to take History or Biology, but none of my _friends_ take Biology…"

"Oh…" Was all he could say in reply. _Humph_, that told him. I notice after that he actually willingly begins showing me his answers.

"Are you sure that one's right?" I ask after a few minutes of silence, pointing at the date of death. He sighs, and I know he was about to snap at me again.

"Yeah, I am." He says, as if he was challenging me to come up with a better answer. I shrug, because I couldn't actually remember anything about Germany, it was more Rich's forte. My favorite part of History is the Black Civil Rights Movement. "And stop breathing all over me with your tuna breath."

I poke him again before getting a mint from my bag. I offer one to him and he accepts, so I quickly realize he didn't have a problem with my breath, but just wanted a mint. Typical Rich.

We finish the activity pretty quickly after that and we play noughts and crosses to pass away the time; we finish on a tie. I do a spot of people watching when Rich falls into another silence. I smile when I saw a girl with a collection of dog erasers; I mean that's adorable! Maybe she could be a potential friend. I am about to swivel around in my chair to look at some people behind me, but I spot Rich staring at me intensely. As soon as I spotted him doing it, he looks away. I brush at my face with the back of my hand to check if he is staring at some food stain or something.

I swivel around in my seat again and then my eyes latch on to her. And by her, I mean _her_ – the metal princess. Long dark hair with hints of red in it, chipped black nails, tight shirt with one of Rich's favorite bands on it – SUNN. I turn back quickly in my seat and shake Rich a little, shouting "BINGO!" in excitement. I grin stupidly before remembering I am in the middle of a History class. Rich looks at me in horror before reacting quickly.

"Uh… she suffers from a censored version of Teurettes." That gets a laugh from some of the confused students and an intense frown from the teacher.

"What the fuck was that about?" Rich mutters angrily, leaning in closer to me.

"Turn around," I whisper back with a small smile creeping up on my face once more. He does that reluctantly and freezes. He has seen her then and he approves in his own Rich way.

"She's alright… I suppose." He says, after he's turned back around.

As soon as the bell goes off, I drag him by the arm out of the classroom.

"Ugh… geroff" He grumbles, but I pick up my pace and start to run, so he has to walk a little faster. When we get outside I find Alo standing by his van, smoking.

"ALO!" I shout over to him, waving manically.

"People are really starting to think there's something wrong with you now." Rich says in a low voice.

"What's going on?" Alo asks when I have finished dragging Rich over to the van, which was a lot of hard work actually because Rich is extremely heavy... metal. _Oh Grace, that was a terrible attempt at a joke_.

"I found her… A metal princess that Rich actually approves of." Alo's eyes widen in surprise and hugs Rich giving him a few pats on the back. Rich stands there, looking like he wants to poke Alo's eyes out and then move on to strangle me.

"So you talked to her then?" He asks enthusiastically and I laugh whilst pointing at Rich.

"You've seen him talking to girls… He needs a little bit of help, I think." I say, giving an innocent smile and batting my eyelashes in Rich's direction.

"I do not!" Rich protests, but Alo's shout overpowers his whine.

"THEN CLUNGE CITY HERE WE COME!" My eyes pop out in horror and Rich throws his face in his hands.

"Let's just go…"

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: meep, this idea has been formulated for literally years, but only now am I finally publishing it and so if you want to see this updated more, I'm just going to put it out there that reviews make me work a whole lot faster ((((((((:_**


	2. No Musical Interludes

**Chapter 2: No Musical Interludes**

Hardbeck (19:15) Why are we bothering anyway?

violetsaregrace (19:16) SUCKING TOO HARD ON YOUR LOLLIPOP, OH LOVE'S GONNA GET YOU DOWN

Hardbeck (19:16) no musical interludes. Please.

violetsaregrace (19:16) Okay (: I'm done!

alosexgod (19:17) Rich, don't worry about it. Tell her she's pretty

violetsaregrace (19:17) Awwwwh… exactly!

alosexgod (19:18) Soz hadn't finished. Pretty fit and your house or hers for Napalm Death sex sess?

violetsaregrace (19:18) EW. No! Don't listen, Richie!

Hardbeck (19:19) Wasn't. What an absolute pile of cowshit, Als. That's why you're a virgin.

alosexgod (19:20) Fine! If you don't want my help…

(alosexgod has left the chat)

Hardbeck (19:20) Thank fuck for that

violetsaregrace (19:20) That wasn't very nice of you though.

Hardbeck (19:21) Er… Have we not been hanging out for the last 6 years? That's how we always are.

violetsaregrace (19:21) Tell him you're sorry!

Hardbeck (19:24) Fine.

violetsaregrace (19:25) Good! Anyway just tell the Metal Princess that you couldn't help but notice her. Ask some questions about music, classes and other extracurricular activities… Then ask her out!

Hardbeck (19:26) You make it sound easy.

violetsaregrace (19:26) That's because it is easy. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

* * *

><p>"To summarize: Keep it short, speak confidently, ask about <em>her<em> and look in to her eyes." I say, looking up from my sheet of bullet points for my quick session with Rich on how to talk to girls. I am rather proud of my list and totally did not waste any time preparing it the night before. It has been two days since meeting the Metal Princess and the time to strike was now!

I fold my sheet in half, laying it neatly on the table in front of me. We are sitting around a small coffee table in the common room. Rich is slumped in his seat, which probably looks like a complete juxtaposition (it's my own personal word of the day!) to me as I sit with my back straight. Alo is sitting next to Rich and seems to be paying more attention to my advice than Rich was.

"Okay…" I start to say slowly, as nobody says anything. "Why -"

"So no looking at any other parts of her… body?" Alo asks, in between little coughs. Rich turns to his best friend with a sort of disbelieving look before turning back to me.

"He means can he get away with blatantly staring at her cleavage?" He shakes his head as he rephrases Alo's question.

"No, no, that's not –," Alo begins to defend himself before probably seeing both mine and Rich's expressions. "Well, yeah."

"Hmm…" Is all I can really manage to say as in my head I am wondering how often boys actually did that. Were they constantly trying to sneak a look at girls' cleavages? I had only given the tip of looking into a girls' eyes, because with Rich being as nervous as he was around girls (apart from Franky and me, but we don't count) he might look down at his shoes the whole time. I don't think Rich would ever try to look at a girl's cleavage in a first conversation, Alo is obviously different.

"Anyway, maybe we should do a practice run? Rich is the gentleman, Alo is our Metal Princess?"

"Prepare yourselves for a truly spectacular performance!" Alo grins, rubbing his hands together in enthusiasm before sitting up straighter for this practice.

"I really, _really_ don't want to do that." I make a small tsk-ing noise at this before giving my most encouraging smile.

"You need to practice at least once before you try it out on a proper girl. It'll be fun!" I'm surprised that my small encouragement for him to get involved actually works as I watch him shuffle in his seat but still with no more enthusiasm than a few seconds before.

"Uh… Hi, I'm Rich." He is mumbling, but this is something I have become completely accustomed to over the years that I had known him. I call it 'Rich Talk'. What you can expect from it: mumbles, grumpiness and never-ending comparisons between superior metal music with anything else. Honestly he's silly, but I think the Metal Princess will be the perfect fit for him.

"I'm Daisy," I can't help the giggle that escapes from me as Alo not only names himself after his favourite cow, but also puts on an incredibly feminine voice. Rich rolls his eyes and shoots me a glare. I try to compose myself once more.

"Right, _Daisy_. Uhm… So I'm in your History class and –,"

"Yeah, I know, I've seen you too. I've just wanted to rub my hands all over your moisturized body -,"

"Ah, well way to fucking go, Als. Cheers." Alo and I are too busy laughing to pay attention to the moping Rich who then folded his arms across his chest and slouched even further into his seat.

I once again have to compose myself as I know I should really be supporting Rich rather than laughing at him right now. Poor thing, for all his 'Rich Talk' he just needs someone to help open him up emotionally. Or perhaps just someone who potentially hates things as much as he does so they can live together complaining about everything together.

"Oh, Rich," I start to say as I stand up and sit on the arm of their sofa so that I am just hovering above Rich's head. He continues to look across the room, refusing to look at me. "I'm sorry; perhaps we should have practiced with me as the girl instead of Alo."

"You want to now?" He says in such a way that I don't know whether he is suggesting we try again or simply asking if that's what I wanted to do.

"No, I think you're ready. You're going to do brilliantly, I can just feel it!" I chirp, my extremely encouraging smile appearing on my face once more. Rich finally turns to look up at me then and I give him a light pat on his shoulder. His lips begin to turn upward slowly and I can't say I am surprised that he is brightening up now; I have done this a few times where I'd managed to get him to cheer up if he was in a worse mood than he usually was.

"And there's no way she'll actually know about your moisturizing habit." Rich and I both break away from the smiling to acknowledge Alo once again. I smile at Alo, as I don't want to giggle again as that might upset Rich some more, but the moisturizing situation is something we did occasionally tease Rich about. I secretly don't think it's that weird a thing to do and it must be rather… pleasant to have such soft skin. I just wish I could remember to keep to my own cleansing and moisturizing routine. Daddy did buy me some wonderful Clarins products, but I'm sorry no princess can possibly have enough time for that _every_ morning!

"We should go! If we get to History now then we'll have to wait outside the room for at least five minutes and it's the perfect opportunity to approach Miss. Daisy," I say, quickly standing up and fetching my bag. I poke Rich to inspire some action in him and he swats my hand away as he slowly stands up himself.

"Fucksake, enough with the pestering already." He mutters angrily and I assume he was trying to say it quietly to keep me from overhearing, but I heard every word, Hardbeck. More pestering coming your way!

"Alright, mate, good luck." Alo says, standing up himself and pulling a reluctant Rich into a hug.

"Awwwh… Okay, that's enough. Richard, let's go!"

* * *

><p>Rich made me hide behind a plant. The plant itself is located at the side of the corridor where our History classroom is. I was completely right about us having to wait outside for the teacher, but Metal Princess wasn't there yet. We were standing around in silence and I could see Rich's nerves growing greater with each passing minute so I finally had to ask if he was getting clammy hands. This simple (caring and innocent, I might add!) question seemed to push him over the edge. He insisted I was distracting his concentration and I had to move somewhere away from him before the Metal Princess showed up.<p>

Two minutes later and I am slowly realizing I underestimated how early we were to class. I peek out from the leaves of the plant and finally see Metal Princess walking down the corridor. Rich must've seen as well as he sneaks a peek at me so I wave rather manically in return. He rolls his eyes and turns back to the Metal Princess.

I continue to smile, seeing Rich make a casual greeting to her. She, at first, looks rather surprised with one perfect eyebrow raised, but I hear her say her name in return. It seems I was successful. I begin to look away from the scene before me, turning instead to the leaves to inspect how healthy it is. An unsettling feeling is beginning to sit in the pit of my stomach. I know, of course I know, why the scene before me wasn't making me entirely… happy. Rich is my best friend and now he'll have to split his time between a girlfriend and his best friends. It's not like I even attend all our hangout sessions now due to all my extracurriculars, so with the addition of Rich's girlfriend my time spent with Rich is going to be significantly reduced. If Alo had a girlfriend though… Well, I would actually be really happy for him, it would be cute. I am happy for Rich though as well! Maybe there's another reason I'm not entirely happy and trying to distract myself with the plant's healthiness (it looks like it needs to be watered more often so I'll definitely mention it to my Dad) and maybe it's because I don't have anyone talking to me in that way. A little awkward, blossoming romance never hurt anyone, did it?

"Are you searching for a social life on that leaf, Disney?" I blink rapidly at the realization someone was trying to get my attention. I turn around to find the blonde girl and the girl with the modern haircut behind me, obviously finding the fact that I am scrunching a leaf in my hand highly amusing.

"Disney?" I ask, in a tinny, slightly scared sounding voice.

"You've made comparisons to Disney movies in nearly all of our English classes." The girl with the modern haircut supplies, obviously being the girl-talk translator for the blonde one.

"Don't worry, we think it's cute." The blonde one says, giving me an extremely toothy smile. She runs a hand through her hair, possibly waiting for me to give some sort of reply, but I can't think of a single thing to say that wouldn't be incredibly lame. "I'm Mini and this is Liv."

"Nice to meet you!" I greet, finally stepping away from the plant. She raises her hand to her mouth before continuing on in a mock whisper.

"This is the part where you say your name."

"Oh… Yes, I'm Grace." I say, a little sheepishly. Rich needs help in talking to girls and it appears I also need help in the same department. I have practically grown up with my boys, I didn't really need any girls in my life. My parents were sure I was going to become a 'tomboy' which lead to my Dad increasing my number of ballet classes and getting me a subscription to 'Teen' magazine. Franky came along when we were fourteen, and yes, a girl, but also so completely different from the girls who now stood before me.

"So cute!" Mini says to Liv with a nod in my direction. They stand in silence for a little while before both nodding at each other and then turning once more to face me. I wring my hands together nervously. I DON'T UNDERSTAND GIRL CODE EITHER!

"Gracey… Can I call you that?" I nod, but she is already continuing to talk. "We like you."

"In a friendly way," Liv clarifies and I nod again, pulling on my satchel more.

"Yeah, we're not lezzers," Mini says, laughing a little so I decide it was only polite to also giggle. "But yeah, you seem… alternative. You have cute clothes. Very cute. And I feel somewhat sorry for the type of people you've been stuck with since you started college."

She gives a sideways glance to Rich who I see is now talking a little more animatedly about, probably, music. I figure she is a bit confused by my friendship and think it best to clarify the situation.

"Oh, no, actually they've been–,"

"So we thought we'd save you."

"Take you under our wing."

"Exactly… So what do you say to a shopping trip this weekend?"

I quite enjoy shopping, but there are only a very limited number of people I can do that with. In fact only one person – my Mum. So, what's the harm with one day trip? It sounds bloody marvelous actually. Rich will most likely be on his date anyway.

"Yaysers, that sounds so amazing!" Both Mini and Liv are smiling now and I begin to feel my heart soar like it's riding on a rainbow. I've never had girly friends before! We'll probably paint each other's nails, have sleepovers and laugh over One Direction's haircuts.

"Excellent! A bit of retail therapy is always needed. We'll exchange numbers tomorrow in English, because the slightly gay Mr. Parker awaits." She leans closer and pulls me into a small hug.

"Bye!" I say, giving a small wave to them both.

"Toodles!" Mini exclaims, before sauntering off down the corridor with Liv next to her. As she passes Rich she whispered something to Liv and I wonder if they are talking about our shopping trip. Gahhhhh, I'm so excited!

* * *

><p><strong>And there it is! I know, I know, this was basically a filler chapter but I must personally say, I am excited for the next chapter! Keep reviewing because I love them dearly and yes they get my butt moving. XOXO<strong>


	3. Remember When

_**Chapter 3: Remember When**_

Hardbeck (17:45) Quickly before Alo gets here.

Violetsaregrace (17:49) What's going on?

Hardbeck (17:50) I need uh practice for the date but kind of without Alo.

Violetsaregrace (17:50) are you willingly asking for my help?!

Hardbeck (17:50) Grace…

Violetsaregrace (17:51) Yippee, of course! You can come over tomorrow night XXX

Hardbeck (17:52) Great. And I'm already regretting it.

(Alosexgod has joined the conversation)

Alosexgod (17:54) can't believe she fucking said yes.

Violetsaregrace (17:55) Shhh…

Alosexgod (17:56) Nah man, I'm kind of emotional about it all. You're growing up. I mean remember when everyone thought you were gay?

Violetsaregrace (17:57) Including his Mum. Hee hee

Hardbeck (17:57) Well remember when Grace dated a homosexual?

Alosexgod (17:58) LOL that was the best

Violetsaregrace (17:58) Hey boys!

Alosexgod (17:58) Or when she thought you were a girl!

Violetsaregrace (17:59) I was 10 and it was your hair. Can you stop picking on me now, please!

Alosexgod (18:01) Yeah instead let's give Richaroo all the sex tips we can.

Hardbeck (18:02) Yes, because you're such an expert yourself.

Violetsaregrace (18:02) I don't want to be a part of this

Hardbeck (18:04) Remember when Alo was an annoying dick? Oh wait…

(alosexgod has left the conversation)

Violetsaregrace (18:05) Rich! Not again!

* * *

><p>Do you think it would be appropriate to translate Shakespeare into French for the title of my first French project about my life? Actually, no, it wouldn't. I just attempted to translate, 'Though she be but little, she is fierce,' and I really don't think I know enough French to do it justice. Oh, well, to the interwebs I go (for a professional version of it and then I can simply pretend I did the translation on my tod… OOOH perhaps my French teacher is not even acquainted with Shakespeare so she really would be mega impressed with my knowledge).<p>

"Grace," I hear my Dad call to me and instead of getting up and walking the short distance to his office where he would inevitably be at this hour, I sit still and wearily shout back,

"Daddy?"

Silence.

How predictable of him! I sigh, standing up from my desk, wondering what he could possibly want. Maybe it's another lecture about chewing gum or my friends or my extracurricular activities or just a general check-up session where he asks me all about what I've gotten up to lately. As I turn around, I see my Dad pushing open my door.

"Knock, knock," He says with a little tap on the door. I giggle slightly before giving the expected answer.

"Who's there?"

"Broken pencil." I'm pretty sure he's already told me this one before.

"Broken pencil who?"

"Oh, never mind it's pointless!" He lets out a little amused laugh at himself and I continue to giggle even though I definitely have heard that one before.

"Are you getting on with your homework?" I give a furtive nod, indicating to my desk which he inspects suspiciously himself.

"Of course, Daddy! I'm working on an interesting French project where I have to write about myself, but from the viewpoint of those around me. Kind of like a biography but from myself." I say in a truly enthused voice. This is not true at all, because all I have to do is write a single page about my life (family, pets, school, friends etc.), but the more intellectual I make it sound, the happier my Dad will be. I add on, "It's fascinating!"

He furrows his eyebrows slightly before giving a small nod.

"How was your singing lesson today?" Ah, yes, my singing lesson with the little old man, Mr. Taylor, who always falls asleep during at least one of my solo performances. I only returned from the class about half an hour ago, so this is really why my Dad hasn't had a chance to ask me about it yet.

"Fabulous, I'm apparently making great strides in my pieces!" I say with a broad smile, anticipating the next question. We are still standing opposite each other, as my Dad doesn't tend to hug me until the end of our conversations, but that doesn't bother me.

"Good, good. I think this year you will tremendously busy. And you've got to aim for A's remember? So when you're not busy, you should still be studying, not gallivanting with your… friends."

And just by magical coincidence, the doorbell rings at that exact moment and I know who it is. My Dad looks around his shoulder, obviously puzzled as to whom it might be and I wonder whether to say I already know who it is or act confused as well.

"Expecting anyone, Gracey?" I scrunch up my face as I shake my head, hoping the confusion is obvious in my face.

"Should I answer it?"

"No, your Mother will." We stand in awkward silence for a moment as I am simply waiting for my Mum to say it's for me.

"Gracey, it's Richard!" Right on cue!

My Dad makes a little grunt of disapproval as I give him my most innocent smile and skip past him to hurry down the stairs. I am greeted with the ever so tall Rich towering over my Mum who is describing in great detail what we'll be having for dinner today.

"Are you sure you can't stay for dinner? Really, the peas are wonderful." I stop on the forth step up, watching as Rich nervously shuffles and undoubtedly tries to turn her down on the dinner invite for the fifth time in the last minute.

"Mummy, Rich can only stay to go over our History homework and then he has to meet his parents for dinner." They finally both look up and Rich throws me an appreciative smile. He despises dinners with my family mostly because my Dad will take any opportunity he can to make him feel uncomfortable. He does it with Alo too, but I think Alo remains oblivious to most things. The way my Dad asks questions you would think I was dating them or something! Both of them! In a mutually agreed threeway relationship! EWW, imagine that (or not)!

"I thought you were doing a French project, Grace?" Yes, of course my Dad has followed me downstairs, but it still doesn't stop me slightly cringing at the unexpectedness of the question. I try to handle it in a very collective and sophisticated manner. I've got to try make the great Audrey Hepburn proud with my people handling skills, after all.

"But Daddy, Rich doesn't study French so I can't do that now!" I say with a small laugh, as if to say he's currently being a silly billy.

"You said you weren't expecting anyone though." My Dad is still standing behind me, but it sounds like he is still moving down the stairs and the look on Rich's face confirms this as he is looking more tense by the second. I turn around, shaking my head as if I am now being a silly billy.

"I completely forgot that he asked me for some help on our History homework!" I turn back to Rich and widen my eyes with a quick head gesture upstairs so he knows now is the time to escape. "We better get on with that right this instant!"

"Hardbeck," My Dad says as a way of greeting as Rich comes face to face with him on the stairs.

"Mr. Blood," Rich says in an equally curt manner. I can't wait to get back to my room without this kind of tension. Why can't my Dad just get along with my friends? They're good enough people, I just don't get it.

"Mummy… Daddy." Rich says in an attempt of an imitation of me as soon as we're far enough up the stairs to not be heard by either of my parents.

"Shhh…" I say, not being able to think of any witty response to that.

"And like I would ever need your help in History." Rich says, sounding particularly outraged by this and I turn my head slightly to see him shaking his head a little.

"Sure, Rich." I say, putting my years of second-hand experiences of sarcasm to good use.

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later and we are discussing the topic of dates as this is the real reason why Rich has visited me alone today. Sometimes we meet alone but more often than not we'll have either Alo or Franky with us.<p>

So yes, Rich's attempts to make the metal princess fall for him were successful (YAY) and now he's left with the much more difficult task of spending a whole evening with her at the Rhubarb Tavern (I did suggest he do something else besides this but he seemed confused by the notion that you can do more than one thing on a date, so we'll see what happens on that front) and so I have to once again turn to my notes on girls and dates. I even had to bring up a previous date I went on and point out all the good things and bad things about it.

Rich is doing well though, so I say he's just got a classic case of big old nerves.

"Dates are where you share your passions. Like I would share my love of cats, ballet, music, penny collecting, Disney and, of course, Harry Potter." I say, which he nods along to as he obviously knows all my passions due to our years of friendship.

"And I would share my passion of metal music." He states, his hands nervously wringing together in his lap.

"Yes, and you try to find out all about her passions in life too." He briefly smiles and nods at me before muttering 'Shit' to himself. I finally place my hand over his shaking hands in an attempt to calm him down.

"Don't be nervous, Rich. The date's going to be fine. I know it will." He looks from our hands to my face, staring blankly before he blinks and exhales deeply.

"How come you always say everything I do related to a girl is going to be fine?" He asks his question in such a bemused manner that I don't know whether it's rhetorical or not.

"Because I'm a girl and you're sometimes nice to me." We both laugh then and fall into a comfortable silence. That is until a trace of worry appears in his eyes once more and he gets up off my bed so that he ends up brushing my hands off him. I feel like shaking him now, because… Well, just how can one teenage boy freak out over a date with the girl of his dreams THIS MUCH?! I don't get up and start to shake him though; instead I fold my hands in my lap and look up at him, waiting expectantly for the next question.

"What about at the end of the date?"

"Tell her you'll call her and then _actually_ call her." He nods once more, before freezing. It feels like this next question is what this whole meeting has been leading up to, like he's been scared to ask it before and has only just now finally gotten the courage to ask it.

"What if she kisses me?" The unsettling feeling in my stomach comes once more. I guess it returns because I wish I had someone to kiss as well, but I never realized I was feeling that lonely. I am ignoring him for a moment as I try to focus on the matter on the hand than my own sudden, overwhelming sense of loneliness.

"Then… kiss her back." Rich is pacing. I have an urge to pace with him, but I have to be the voice of reason here.

"Stop pacing. Look when you kiss the right person then it all just comes naturally to you." I've never really had a kiss come naturally to me, but then again I've only kissed two people and they were definitely not my destined Prince Charming. One of them being gay, and the other one happening when I was about ten.

"I've never kissed someone before." He states it blankly, because it really is that simple.

"I know." I return his words with my own blank expression and simplicity which seems to finally calm him down. I pat the space next to me on my bed and he slowly returns to sit next to me. My mouth seems to be forming words before my brain has really thought it through as my next question is, "I could help you?"

I have no idea what I even mean by that. He looks up from his lap, where our hands were just entangled, with furrowed eyebrows. I know what his next question will be, so I need to think of what I meant. What did I mean? Brain, a little help here!

"How?"

"By kissing you." My brain is arguing with my entire being, because that cannot be what I meant. I don't want to kiss him, but I do want to help him. Logically… would that help him? Possibly.

"Oh, right."

"Just as a guide so you know how to do it next time." I am not processing how Rich looks about this proposal or what he is even saying, because all I am thinking is that I am about to kiss my best friend.

"That seems smart."

I tilt my head to the left and he does the same.

"Tilt your head in the opposite direction to mine." He laughs awkwardly and I return it with a soft smile. I edge a little closer and when I'm just a few centimeters away from his own lips, I say,

"Just keep leaning closer." I stare into his eyes, my best friend's eyes, just as my lips are about to touch his.

"And close your eyes."

I don't need to tell him anything else then. Our lips touch and my toes tingle.

I figured this would be a very quantifiable process, but I couldn't tell you if we kissed for seconds or hours. All I know is that it was beautiful and for that time, however long it was, I was floating.

The words I had just said a few moments before we kissed are now ringing in my head; 'When you kiss the right person then it all just comes naturally to you.' I am now going to have to rethink that entire statement, because yes, that was the most amazing, natural process of my life, but no, this is most definitely the wrong person.

"Okay."

Well, what a kerfuffle.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: TA DA! And yes the song that is totally playing when they kiss is;;; I Guess I'm Floating – M83. Thank you for all the reviews on the last chapter, it's making me beyond happy so please keep letting me know if you're enjoying the direction this is heading in! _**

**_This is dedicated to Stef, because it's her birthday and she once mentioned she liked this fic so yah this is for you. _**

**_Next chapter is in Rich's POV _**


	4. WTF

**Chapter 4: WTF**

Hardbeck (22:30) Franky?

frankyfitzfuck (22:51) Rich? You still there?

Hardbeck (22:52) Thank fuck

frankyfitzfuck (22:52) What's up?

Hardbeck (22:52) I don't really know

frankyfitzfuck (22:53) It's your date tomorrow, right?

frankyfitzfuck (22:55) Nervous?

Hardbeck (22:55) Kind of…

frankyfitzfuck (22:56) Okay…

frankyfitzfuck (22:58) You're not giving me a lot to work with here, Hardbeck

Hardbeck (22:59) Grace and I kissed

frankyfitzfuck (22:59) WTF?! Well, finally. And when did this happen?!

Hardbeck (23:00) Huh? No. It was just to help me for the date.

frankyfitzfuck (23:00) Hmm… interesting

Hardbeck (23:01) It really is not a 'Hmmm' situation. That's what happened.

frankyfitzfuck (23:01) Sure. So what's the problem then?

frankyfitzfuck (23:06) Rich?

Hardbeck (23:07) Uh, yeah. Well things might be weird.

frankyfitzfuck (23:08) Probably not, it's Grace. Maybe you should talk to her then, see if she's fine with it.

Hardbeck (23:10) Right, sure. Sounds good, gotta sleep. Talk to you later, alright?

* * *

><p>"Rich, what are you doing here?" Grace asks and I stare on, thinking of the best way to tell her why I am here in her room at about 10pm. Why did her asshole of her Dad even let me in anyway?<p>

"I…" Words fail me and she is still standing by her desk in one of those classic type nighties you would probably see in a shit 80's movies (not like I've ever seen one. Okay maybe one, but it was Grace who forced me into it) and she looks confused. The last time I saw her we were in this room, just a few hours ago, and she was basically teaching me how to kiss.

"Are you okay?"

I let out an uneasy breath as I glance around the room, not fully believing that I'm currently here in her room. Why would I even bother coming back here? Is there anything really to say or ask her about earlier?

My eyes finally fall back onto her face and she's looking worried as if she's about to walk right over and hug me. The questions going off in my head fade away when I look at her and no, it's not her who closes the distance between us, it's me.

I reach her in three easy strides, staring down at her as I take her face in my hands. My lips are on hers in the space of seconds. I don't need lessons this time, because kissing Grace is one of the easiest things I've ever known. I lean further into the kiss as I feel her lightly tug on my shirt. After seconds or minutes, she is pulling me on to the bed, straddling me in a way I would never have imagined Grace to do, but now it is going to be imprinted on my mind.

She is leaving delicate, yet powerful kisses on my neck, lightly pulling my shirt upwards. I am overwhelmed by all this and can only lie back and close my eyes. In one easy movement, she has moved from my neck to my ear to lightly nibble on it. I feel her hot breath hit my neck and I involuntarily shudder before she shakily says,

"I want this, you do as well, right?" I nod, feeling her hand travel southwards, and I am left wishing I knew what to do with my awkward as ever hands.

And then the sound of 'Let the Bodies Hit the Floor' begins to boom throughout the room.

"What the –," I start, before my eyes open and I am in my room, Friday morning, with no Grace. That's how it should be.

I lazily hit the alarm off, lying in bed for a second to get my breath back. What the fuck was that? It was like some sort of warped nightmare where in my dream I was actually happy about something horrible happening to me. I mean, eugh, Grace. She's a friend. And friend could kind of be a loose statement in this sense, I was 10 when I met her and she kind of invaded mine and Alo's lives. Invaded it in her own Disney loving way, I guess… Anyway when you've known someone for that long, they just naturally become a part of your life.

But saying that, she has been helpful, I guess, these past few days. Yesterday teaching me how to kiss… Well, it was weird afterwards. I made an excuse to leave and she seemed to want me to go, so now I'm wondering how things will be between us. I need to talk to her really. To see if everything's fine or if she's now obsessed with me. Probably not the latter.

And we're not even going to even fucking touch the subject of that otherworldly nightmare. Alo would be the best person to talk to about odd dreams like that, but telling him I had a dream about Grace? T hat ginger twat would never let me hear the end of it.

Why couldn't I have had this dream about Jade. That's the name of the 'Metal Princess' (as Grace as nicknamed her.) and the person I have a date with tomorrow night. The person who probably should have been in the dream, you know, instead of my 'friend'.

I get ready in some sort of whacked out daze, unable to quite remove the nightmare out of my mind. It scarily isn't exactly troubling me. Well, the fact that I dreamt that to begin with is scaring me, but not the stuff in the dream.

Thirty minutes later and I am descending down the stairs to the pits of the hell a.k.a where my parents are usually present. I grimace as I hear the horrible shriek of Anita calling my name. Even though I try to sneak down the stairs to avoid human interaction, she still manages to hear me. It must be some kind of weird superpower of hers.

"I wanted to ask you," I roll my eyes as she appears from the living room to stand right in front of me.

"Whatever it is it can wait until I'm back from college." I say, taking the final step down the stairs.

"Your Mum's been wanting to talk to you about it all morning, Richard," Great, now Kevin is standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders.

"For fuck's sake." I mutter angrily under my breath before raising my eyebrows, waiting for what it is she wanted to ask me.

"Well, Poppet, I was thinking we could all go to the garden centre tomorrow for a spot of afternoon tea and a wander a-," I'm shaking my head violently before she even gets to finish that train of thought.

"No fucking way," She stops giving me her sickening smile and makes a furious tsk-ing sound.

"Well, why not?"

"Well, Anita, ignoring that it sounds like living hell, I also have a date tomorrow evening, so yeah, no." There's a deafening silence as Anita turns between me and Kevin. She looks extremely confused.

"What? Date? You?" There's a long pause between each question, as she still looks just as confused as before. Kevin, meanwhile, has a small smile growing on his face.

"Date. Yes. Me." I say, answering each of her questions, before reaching into my backpack to pull out my headphones.

"Well, uh, Anita, if Richie has a… date then we should just go by ourselves." For once I am thankful for Kevin trying to get Anita off my case.

"Hmm?" She is still looking at me, still entirely confused, before realizing Kevin is talking to her. She turns to him and back to me once more before saying, "Yes of course… But uh, is it with anyone we know?"

Why do parents like to think they know a lot of teenagers?

"Right, yeah, I forgot you always hang out at Roundview so happen to know most people my age." I say, adjusting the headphones to fit over my head, waiting for this conversation to finally end.

"So it's not Grace?" I stop, not knowing what to do or say at that question. I shake my head slowly, forcing myself to snort in response.

"Why would it _ever_ be Grace?"

Kevin nudges Anita so that silence falls and I can FINALLY make my way to college.

"Okay, okay…" She says, reaching out to hug me, but I walk past it. "Bye sweetie, have a lovely day."

* * *

><p>In the middle of Chemistry I get a scrunched up piece of paper thrown at me by Alo. I scowl over in his direction.<p>

"Why do you look like you're off in La La Land?" He whispers extremely loudly, proving yet again that it is possible to fuck up simple tasks. Truth is, as our obese Chemistry teacher discusses safety in the lab, my mind is drifting back to last night's nightmare.

"Thinking about your Metal Princess?" He sniggers and raises his arms to pretend he's making out with someone. I swear sometimes it's like I'm a reluctant babysitter in our friendship. He's the other friend that I've kind of just been stuck with all these years that maybe we're not even friends but we just feel like we are.

I exhale deeply, unsure why exactly I'm about to even talk to him about this matter.

"Look… what if you have a dream, well really a nightmare, because it's that bad, but yeah, a dream about someone you know in real life and it's a -,"

"Wet dream?" I cringe as he once again fails to whisper properly.

"Shut the fuck up, Alo." I hiss quietly at him, ignoring the weird girl who just turned around to shun us with her stare. "And yeah."

"That's normal. I've had loads." This doesn't surprise me.

"Naturally, but with people you, you know, don't like at all?" I ask, still managing to keep up the whispering.

"Yeah, course. I mean there was , that librarian," He's starting to count them all on his fingers while I stare at him with my probably most disgusted face of all time as he lists people well over the suitable MILF age. "That girl from comp who had that monobrow, and there was another one with Mrs.-,"

"Right. Please stop now." I say, shaking my head and giving a visible shudder at what he said before turning back to look at the sheet before me. Alo nudges me though and leans in closer.

"Why? Who were you dreaming about?" He sounds all too eager to hear about it and I know I can definitely not tell him another thing about it.

"Have you seriously never heard of a hypothetical situation, Als?" I say, continuing to look disgusted with him. He looks momentarily confused before shaking his head and turning back to his work.

For the rest of the class I drift in between lab safety and kissing Grace.

Maths and Chemistry. What an amazing productive day I've had. Alo and I are both done with classes for the day and so we are walking down the corridor to most likely get into his van and head to the pub for a bit or go to the farm and watch some zombie movie. I haven't seen Grace all day; this is why I am walking more slowly than usual and keeping an eye out for her. Like Franky said I probably need to talk to her about it.

"Rich?" I blink, turning to Alo who is waving his hand manically in front of my face.

"What?"

"Wow, what the fuck is wrong with you today? You keep spacing out and shit." I am trying to think of some explanation for it, but the next sentence that Alo says makes me stop. "Oh, Grace, there you are."

I swivel my head around to where Alo is staring to see Grace walking over to us and waving.

"Thank fuck, I was thinking I was just stuck with this walking table for the rest of the day." Alo says, before ruffling my hair. I shake him out, trying to look like everything was actually normal.

"Hah," I say, while Grace just smiles at us both. She's acting like everything is normal too. Or maybe she's not acting; maybe it's all just normal to her… Which is good, obviously, because I want everything to be normal as what happened yesterday didn't matter at all.

"Hey boys, where are you both off to?" She asks in her usual chirpy voice.

"Well, we can all go to the pub now. Or the farm." Alo says, looking ready to take off again. See, it really is only one of the two options where we're concerned.

"Ooh, sorry, I've got another class left." I let my gaze drop to the floor, wondering when I'll actually get a chance to say something to her.

"Ugh, Gracey! Ditch it, come with us," Alo whines, so I hit him. He always acts like a puppy in desperate need of attention. It's beyond annoying.

I think of an idea to get Grace alone for a second. I fish out some coins from my pocket and hand them to Alo.

"Get us both a drink from the vending machine then I'll meet you in the van." I can tell he's about to argue, but then he looks down at the coins and must realize it's best not to argue when he'll be getting a free drink out of it.

As he walks away I give a small, slightly awkward and uncomfortable laugh and Grace continues to smile as if she's waiting for me to say something.

"So…?" She eventually says.

"I uhm…" I start off pathetically, beginning to wonder why I even wanted to talk to Grace so badly when I didn't even have anything to say to her.

"I'm actually going to be late for my class," She says, glancing down at the watch on her wrist. She has one of those pink girly, my little fucking pony watches or something that Grace would so obviously have because it's Grace we're talking about here.

"What do you have?" I ask, not even caring about whatever class it is but just needing something to fill the silence between us.

"Music, my teacher's such a sweetheart." She says, with a dreamy sort of smile. I look down at my feet, trying not to think about Grace in the dream from last night.

"You ready for your date tomorrow?" She asks lightly and I look up, nodding slightly.

"Uh yeah."

"Oh, right."

Silence. Long, painful silence. Fuck it.

"Look, Grace, yesterday was...-,"

"Helpful, right? Now you know what to do. I was happy to help, you don't need to thank me." She says all this very quickly that I momentarily forget what I even wanted to say.

"No, uhm… It was, I guess. I mean, it's not weird is it?" She doesn't say anything for a second, instead just stares at me for what feels like minutes. She finally smiles and lets out a weird giggle.

"Rich, don't be silly. Why would it be weird?" I let out an awkward, non-committal laugh as well, as she once again looks down at her watch.

"I really have to go now. Text me the deets on the date tomorrow, okay?" And then she turns around and walks in the opposite direction.

Well, yeah. That settles it then. There's nothing weird between us. Pre-kiss Rich and Grace, Post-kiss Rich and Grace are exactly the same thing. Nothing has changed. And what, this stupid nightmare that's been playing in my head? That's just fucking regular teenage boy hormones that's been messing with my sleeping brain.

Now that it's all been settled and discussed thoroughly with Grace, I can turn my attention to my date which is occurring in just over twenty-four hours. Brilliant.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Yeah, so this chapter isn't really up to par with my Grace POV chapters, but I felt I couldn't just skip over Rich's confusion here so there it is! More awkwardness and confusion lies ahead for these two!**

**omg you guys, the reviews are really making me grin and getting my hands to furiously type, you are all stars! Please continue to let me know if you're enjoying it, what you want to see happen etc. etc. **

**LOVE**


	5. Bit Busy

**Chapter 5: Bit Busy**

Violetsaregrace (15:14) Alopops! What are you up to?

Alosexgod (15:21) cleaning out cow muck. Taking a 5 min snoozer

Violetsaregrace (15:22) oh… so you're busy then?

Alosexgod (15:25) Yh, bit busy. What's up, gracey?

Violetsaregrace (15:26) Was just going to see if you wanted to hang out.

Alosexgod (15:28) Well I'm going to meet Rich after his DATEEE

Violetsaregrace (15:28) What? Why didn't he invite me?

Alosexgod (15:30) Dunno, just come along.

Violetsaregrace (15:31) No, no, it's fine. I'm going to be a bit busy now anyway. I'll just talk to you both tomorrow or see you Monday. XXXX

Alosexgod (15:33) uhhh alright then. Ttyl

* * *

><p>Okay, so saying I was a bit busy to Alo? That is of course a total lie, because I am actually extremely busy. In fact I am leaving my house right this second and attending my first shopping trip with people my age. Well, no, I'm still standing in front of my mirror, wondering whether what I'm currently wearing is the best thing to wear. The most important thing we should be talking about here though is that I am not worrying about how well Rich is currently getting on on his date or… well, anything else.<p>

Yes, okay, this playsuit is super adorable and Mini did say she liked my clothing choices, so I shouldn't be stressing as much as I currently am!

Right, now what bag would go with – Why didn't he invite me to the post-date evaluation session though? Is this related to the kiss? Because on a second inspection that kiss was not really anything to me at all. It was a simple act of a friend helping out another friend. There are so many literary references to that exact uhm transaction taking place between two friends… None that I can think of right now, well none with completely platonic outcomes.

There are some though!

Yaysers, on to the bag. I am so almost ready to leave and I bet my parents say something about how I look. I always use my Mum's compliments as a general idea of how good I look on a day to day basis. She, along with the obvious Audrey Hepburn, is my general fashion icon.

I perform a game of eeny minie mo on which shoes to pick before coming to a conclusion to pick my blue shoes with the little dog on them. They're too cute for me to just resist!

I pick up my phone to put inside my bag, about to send a text to Rich with no idea what I would actually include in this text. What would I say? How's your date going? Are my tips helping? Why didn't you invite me along with Alo for later on? Can I come later? I want to –

Gosh, look at me obsessing over this! I shove my phone in my bag, turning to look once more into my mirror.

"Grace Violet Blood," I say with a stony, determined expression on my face. "Under no circumstances today will you be contacting a certain Richard Hardbeck. If he doesn't appreciate your – completely platonic and helpful – advice and tips then you should not be the one chasing after him. Never mind that he's your best friend and there shouldn't be any question over whether or not you can attend a hangout with your best friends…. You have no idea where that sentence is going, do you Gracey?"

I sigh, wanting to laugh at myself for getting into an argument with my reflection (I am so silly), but can't bring myself to even smile right now. Why is this making me so sad? I've missed so many hang outs recently that Rich probably thought it best not to even ask me this time and I can't even attend it anyway as I'll be out with Mini and Liv! Goodness, I keep forgetting all the logical arguments. I feel slightly better now.

I wonder if Rich and his Metal Princess are still in the pub or are taking a nice, romantic stroll through the park. It's quite nice weather for it today and -

"Who were you just talking to?" I jump at the sound of my Mum's voice and turn to the door where I see her standing. I am able to smile once more as I have someone there and I would hate my Mum to think I was sad when I have no reason to be.

"Oh, nobody! I was just practicing some lines for a drama project." I say, rather convincingly I might add. She smiles, taking a step closer to me.

"You look beautiful, my princess," I exhale, genuinely happy to get my Mum's approval.

"Thank you, Mum," I say, as she takes my hands in hers as she looks me up and down.

"So you're really not meeting up with Aloysius and Richard?" She asks, obviously still confused after my revelation that I was meeting up with girls today. I shake my head and she smiles. "Your Father is extremely happy about it. He says one of the girls… Mini, is extremely conscientious about her extracurricular activities."

And of course Daddy Blood has done all his research on the two girls I might be becoming friends with. I'm starting to realize he is completely obsessed with the idea of 'extracurricular activities'. If I hear him say it one more time I might scream.

"Well, I'm glad he's happy about it." I say, rather distantly as I begin to fetch my things and head out.

"Maybe now you'll spend more time with them than the boys. Grow up to be a proper little princess?" She asks, tucking my hair behind my ears. I scrunch up my face as I am not facing in her direction anyway.

"I hope not," I state, unable to bear the image of not being close to Rich and Alo anymore.

"You don't want to be a proper princess?" My Mum's parenting usually involves me as a comparison to princesses. It might have worked when I was younger, but now I can't really see myself as the princess in all these stories. Rich being the cynic he is, told me all the opposite things to that. "Boys are only ever in Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella to kiss the girl at the end, not to really be friends with them. I love both of them as dearly as you but it's about what's best for you."

"If I was a princess, like a proper, Disney princess," I start slowly, trying to not show how annoyed I am with my Mum right this instant. It takes me a lot to get angry, but it seems like I'm already in an irritable mood today and I'm not exactly sure why. Well, apart from Rich being so… Rich-like and failing to invite me to the post-date hangout. "Well, then I would get rid of all my titles if it meant I could simply be friends with Rich and Alo."

I pull my small bag over my shoulder and try to work out what my Mum's facial expression exactly means. Maybe just confused? Maybe also annoyed? Sad? Happy? Why does my Mum have such an unreadable face?!

"Well, Mum, I better be going now. Greatness is not lateness!" I say, using a term my Dad has always used with me since before I can remember. I stand up on my tip toes to peck her cheek. She remains almost frozen as I walk to my door. Out of worry, I guess, I turn back to see if my Mum is still standing there, but now she's at my desk, gently touching the cover of my Grimm fairytales book. I shake my head; it's now time for full-on girly adventures!

* * *

><p>I feel like a lot more girl code is going on in this conversation than in our first conversation if that's even possible!<p>

We have not even mentioned One Direction once today, so I feel like my researching of their songs has not helped me out at all. There has been a lot of talk about clothes brands and hair products which I have no real experience in. My Mum usually just buys me a lot of these things and I don't even bother to see the brand attached to it.

They are now discussing a group of boys that apparently are in our college and how on a scale of 1-10 they would rate on 'how orgasm inducing' they are. I'm not really sure what we're talking about, but I'm nodding as if I do.

"But Mark looks like he knows what to do with both his and my digits." What?

"Yeah, but does this mean you can't control the space between your legs from drooling all over the place when he walks in the room?"

Mini posed this question which leads to Liv snorting with laughter. They are both giggling now and, worried that I will be forgotten if I don't do the same, I begin to laugh too.

"Finished with your milkshake, Gracey?" Mini asks and Liv raises her eyebrows to look back at me with my 'Strawberry Surprise' milkshake. Mini had given me a severely disapproving look as I ordered it from the café. She then began to calculate the calories within it whilst Liv laughed and told me not to worry about it. Mini likes to count calories, Liv likes burgers.

"Uhm… yes?" I still have a little left, but I'm not really thirsty anymore.

"Perfect-o! We can go do a little lingerie shop then." Ooh, lingerie! I would want something classic and floral and generally very pretty – wait, lingerie shopping? My Mum still buys me all my bras and knickers from M&S! What will my parents think if I turn up with all this cute lingerie? Ugh, my Dad will probably attempt to give me the birds and bees talk… again!

Both Mini and Liv link arms with me so that I'm in the middle of them both and I feel like I'm in one of those really girly movies where they have a shopping montage. Of course I've never seen this with my boys because the only movies I can convince them into watching are Harry -

"Oh God, Gracey, that mingy guy from college is over there. I suggest you don't look now unless you want to get Herpes in your eyes."

I have no idea what that sentence even means, but I know who I want her to be talking about and so before I even turn around I can feel this fluttering feeling as if there are butterflies living inside my body and they're all waving at someone with their wings so I feel like I'm flying. It would be so nice to see someone I actually know and someone who says things that I actually understand. Not that I've disliked spending time with Mini and Liv, but just that they don't come close to Rich. Or Alo.

I bite my lip, staring up at Mini who is now pulling me further away from where Rich must be and closer to the lingerie store. I flick my head to look behind me, where Mini has been looking since a few seconds before she brought up Rich being in the same location.

And then all of a sudden I feel the fluttering stop. I am staring at Rich and perhaps his new girlfriend. And I can't blame it on loneliness and wanting a boyfriend of my own anymore, because I'm staring right at Rich and he's holding hands with another girl. Talking with another girl. I'm so used to being the only girl that he can even stomach a conversation with. Now he's laughing with someone who isn't me. I'm going to lose him as a friend, aren't I? I'm not going to be the most important girl in his life anymore. Franky was different because we both were just friends with Rich, but now… I can't share my friendship with his Metal Princess, because yes, that's his Princess. He's the Prince Charming to her Snow White and I doubt Prince Charming had any female friends.

Rich notices me then and he looks very bewildered at seeing me here. We stare at each other for what feels like eternity, but he soon breaks the stare to look back at his girl. I feel Mini and Liv both pull on me some more and I turn back around, pretending that I don't currently feel like I'm on fire.

"Uhh… what was all that about?" Liv eventually asks and Mini seems to be still looking behind us.

"You don't like that Valhalla weirdo or something, do you?" She asks, whilst heinously laughing at the thought. I desperately glance between both girls, shaking my head wildly.

"No, no, no… He's just… He's my best friend, okay?" I say, finally taking a deep breath. "Him and the ginger guy I sit with at lunch – they're both my best friends."

Mini looks distraught over this and Liv seems to be slightly smiling. Mini sighs as we enter the lingerie store.

"Well, I suppose it's better than you being in love with the poor sod."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay so I've had my own boy drama the past 2 weeks so that's why there's been a HUGE delay but I have a lot of days off this next week so I should be faster with the updates :')**

**Also this is totally a lame filler chapter so I'm sorry it sucks. Next chapter should be a little more exciting as we'll have Rich/Grace interaction once more! Thank you for all the reviews thus far and hope you continue to enjoy it!**


	6. The Rich Thing

**Chapter 6: The Rich Thing**

Frankyfitzfuck (16:37) Grace? You there?

Violetsaregrace (16:45) Franks! Wait, brb!

Frankyfitzfuck (16:45) sure (:

Violetsaregrace (16:53) Sozzles, dad wanted to test me on my French.

Frankyfitzfuck (16:53) weren't you going to drop that after GCSEs?

Violetsaregrace (16:54) Yup. Dad said no.

Frankyfitzfuck (16:55) Must do what Daddy says lol

Violetsaregrace (16:55) Oh, I'm totes dropping it after AS

Frankyfitzfuck (16:56) cool uhm

Violetsaregrace (16:56) What?

Frankyfitzfuck (16:56) Rich told me about… you know…

Violetsaregrace (16:56) Uh no?

Frankyfitzfuck (16:56) The kiss

Violetsaregrace. (16:59) Oh, that little thing! Why did he tell you that? I was just helping him out.

Frankyfitzfuck (16:59) Yeah and why didn't you tell me?

Violetsaregrace (17:01) I was just helping him out!

Frankyfitzfuck (17:01) Sure… when you gonna admit you fancy him?

Violetsaregrace (17:01) I don't!

Frankyfitzfuck (17:02) Would you help Alo by kissing him?

Violetsaregrace (17:02) Alo isn't like Rich… Rich is really shy and needed the help.

Frankyfitzfuck (17:03) That isn't the reason and you know it.

Violetsaregrace (17:04) Ugh… I gtg

Frankyfitzfuck (17:05) What?! Don't go just because of that

Violetsaregrace (17:06) No, no, it's not like that. It's just dinner time.

Frankyfitzfuck (17:06) Okay. Please promise you think about the Rich thing.

Violetsaregrace (17:06) He's got a girlfriend

Frankyfitzfuck (17:07) He would choose you. Just practice the language of love on him.

Violetsaregrace (17:07) Byeeeeee

* * *

><p>"Right, boys, my recital's in exactly one week, so… TICKETS!" This is how I greet both Rich and Alo during lunch at our not-so-delightful school canteen. I excitedly flourish the tickets in front of them before settling myself into the seat in front of them. I can hear the faint groan escape from Rich's lips, but decide that it's not going to ruin my decidedly joyous mood today.<p>

Yesterday was filled with my Mummy's finest Sunday roast dinner, picking up said recital tickets - I had purchased four – Dad, Mum, Rich and Alo. I would have got another one for my Grandma, but she tends to fall asleep during them and gets into an argument with my Dad after the whole thing is over, so is it really worth the hassle? Nopey nope - a long bath and a movie night with the rents where we funnily did watch RENT. Delightful! Plus French (bleugh, I've got the class after lunch) and a short, but sweet skype session with my Franks.

"Ace, Grace," This is obviously spoken by the loveable Alo and not the sour-faced Rich. He takes one ticket from my hand, which leaves me with just one more to spare. "Wait, there are going to be other girls performing, right?"

I laugh, about to respond until Rich decides to give his two cents (such an odd expression, isn't it?) on the current situation.

"I swear we were forced into one of these like a week ago." He complains, shoving another forkful of chicken nuggets into his mouth. I wave the ticket with a little more determination as I try to reply.

"Actually it was two months ago." I stare at him, waiting for the excuse he's bound to come up with. He's staring me down as well, obviously wracking his brain for a legitimate excuse. I've heard them all before from being sick to his mum being sick to family gatherings to his grandma having died (his grandma is completely fine and _alive_. I always go round there for tea and biscuits). Anyway it doesn't matter how many excuses he gives, he always comes in the end.

"Well," He finally takes the ticket from me, looking it over as if he's interested in what it says. I take this moment to start eating my pasta salad. "Ugh, it's a Monday. So I'm going to be washing my hair, aren't I?"

I look back up to him, my hand hovering mid-air as I was just about to take my first bite. I slowly lower it, taking in this information before beginning to giggle uncontrollably.

"Ha, with your hair in that state, it's the least believable thing I've ever heard! Richard, indeed," I say tutting loudly, finally tucking into my food.

Rich sighs just as loudly as I tut and Alo is the one to break the silence between us both then.

"Nah, Rich has the softest hair in the world. Have a feel," I start to giggle as Alo begins to aggressively stroke Rich's hair as Rich protests loudly.

"Go on, feel it!" Alo insists further and with a tentative hand I finally reach over to feel his hair. It actually is rather soft, like I imagine his skin would feel with the amount he moisturizes and - wow, I really need to stop being so jealous of Rich's well moisturized skin! Caught up in thoughts of moisturizer, I only realize after probably a good few seconds that Rich has stopped protesting and I am the only one with my hand in his hair now. I feel the familiar fluttering in my chest – why now? There's no reason for me to be feeling it right now – as I am left frozen with my hand on Rich's head and with our eyes interlocked in some strange stare-off. Oh gosh, I know this would look so weird to any passersby –

"Hey," My hand leaves Rich's head as if it suddenly caught fire and Rich turns to look up at who has just joined us and –

Great. Just great.

Jade a.k.a The Metal Princess a.k.a the girl Rich is dating has just seen me with my hand on Rich's head and I can't think of an excuse for this at all.

She is giving me the oddest look, so I quickly glance down at my food and wow, pasta shapes are so interesting.

"Oh, hey," Rich says, but I am still concentrating very hard on pasta shapes. I can hear the sound of a tray being placed on the table so realize she must be sitting down. Was that the sound of a kiss? No, definitely don't want to be looking right now. Although… Franky's kind of in my head right now. She did make an excellent point – why was it so different between Rich and Alo? If this was Alo with a girl I would be making cooing noises and gushing about all the cute things they would inevitably say to each other. No, no, no… I already came up with the perfect theory as to why it's different and I don't need to justify it any further.

It's so weird, because I'm used to being literally one of the only girls Rich can stand to talk to or be with and it's given me so much joy over the years that he'll complain endlessly about doing things with me, but he'll do them all the same. Like with my ballet recitals.

That's the reason. That's it. I don't care what Franky thinks, that's the reason.

"Introductions?" I hear her say and she has a really nice, kind of husky voice.

"I'm Alo, hi." There's a sound of a tray clattering so I know Alo must have knocked his tray over in the process of trying to greet her.

"And… this is Grace." Well…

I look up finally, smiling broadly at her as she shows her teeth in, I guess, an equally friendly manner.

"Salut," Why am I speaking French? Rich is 'facepalming' at the sight of me putting my hand forward to shake Jade's hand. "It's lovely to meet you formally and finally."

I should be more proud of the image that lies before. After all Rich and Jade wouldn't now be sitting there with their hands awkwardly touching on the table if it wasn't for me! I got them together in an indirect fashion.

"Likewise." She says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. A silence soon falls upon the four of us, as my mind goes over all the conversation building techniques my parents have taught me over the years.

"Do you two have another date planned soon?" I ask, hopefully coming across as very excited about this topic matter. Jade looks over to Rich and they share this strange smile as if they have a secret world and secret jokes within this world. I should be cooing over this! I can't shake that feeling of annoyance though.

"Today actually. We're going to Rich's to look over his record collection." Jade says, looking back at me with the same smile. If Rich and I ever did something similar it would end with an argument over musical taste.

"Awwh, that's fun," I say after a brief silence.

"Anyway aren't we going to talk about your new friends?" Alo says when he seemingly can't take the small talk anymore. I shift my glance uneasily between Rich (and Jade) and Alo. The latter who is staring at me with such childlike excitement and the former who looks a mixture between bored and whatever the emotion is for trying to see through my soul with only his eyeballs at hand. He gives me a challenging raise of his eyebrows as he continues to chew on his chicken nuggets.

For he had already discussed this subject at some length with me on the phone yesterday evening. I forgot to mention that part in my Sunday activities.

* * *

><p>"What the hell were you doing out with those Barbie looking, spastic –," He had begun to insult, before I interrupted him, because, language!<p>

"Richard!"

"Well?"

"They invited me to go shopping with them."

"What - why the fuck didn't you tell us?" He was practically snapping down the phone.

"Why are you so angry about this?"

"Shopping? What and next are you going to be sitting around fawning over all the members of One Direction and planning how to sacrifice one of the less popular girls?" I had to hold the phone away from me at this point whilst thinking how glad I was we weren't having this conversation in person. It could have lead to spit all over my face from the amount he was yelling at me.

"Richard… They're actually really nice, you just don't know each other yet. I had a really nice time, did you?"

"When?"

"Yesterday. On your date or at the post-date hangout, either one." Silence. I win. I allow myself a small victory smile, wondering how quickly he'll come up with a response for not inviting me to the post-date hangout.

"I thought you had ballet so that's you asking why I didn't invite you before." It was at least more believable than the 'washing my hair' excuse.

"That's a really bad excuse, Rich. Why didn't you want me there?" And because a small part of me knows that his answer might include how awkward he feels about the kiss and that he doesn't know how to be around me and ultimately that he is replacing our platonic relationship for an actual romantic one, I quickly stop him.

"Wait, never mind. It doesn't matter, can we just forget about it?" I hear him exhale on the other side of the phone and wonder if he's just as relieved as me about ignoring that big question.

"Uh… I guess. Are you like friends with these girls now?"

"Maybe. It doesn't mean I don't want to hang out with you anymore. And Alo of course. I still want to."

"Okay, I guess that's all that matters."

* * *

><p>"Oh Alopops, I know exactly why you want to talk about them, but there's absolutely nothing to say. Apart from they're really nice and maybe we can all meet up sometime." I say as eloquently as if I was Princess Diana herself. Beat that, Richard. He lets out a snigger as he continues to eat. Jade turns to him with a look of puzzlement on her rather beautiful face.<p>

"Really?! You're not just saying that, are you, Gracey? What's that blonde one's name again?"

"Wow, acting like you don't know…" Rich supplies and Alo elbows him in the ribs. They begin to play fight and I seem to be the only one realizing Jade has picked up one of my recital tickets and is reading it carefully.

"What's this?" She asks, sounding slightly disapproving but with an air of not really caring at all what it is.

"Oh, it's for my recital…" I say in my tinny voice, which I seem to have been using a lot more in recent days than usual. She looks up at me, a small smirk on her face that I can't really read. Rich and Alo stop fighting at that point then.

"Ballet shit? Cute," She says, looking over the ticket once more before setting it down again. I force a smile upon my face before continuing on with my pasta. "You weren't asking Rich to go, were you?"

Oh no. Have I somewhere along the way crossed an invisible line between Jade and Rich's relationship? Am I not supposed to have invited Rich to come? Is this girl language once again trying to baffle and defeat me?!

"Uhm… Well, yes –," I start with an awkward glance at both Rich and Alo who are glancing in between both us girls.

"Oh, it's a shame then…" She starts, giving me a piteous stare before turning to Rich and saying in a very excited voice. "That I managed to get an extra ticket to Napalm Death next Monday!"

Rich seems slightly taken aback for a moment before laughing in his own excited manner.

"No fucking way!"

"My brother totally hooked me up with it." She leans in to plant a kiss on his face which turns into slightly more tongue than I would have anticipated at our college canteen. Our kiss was nothing like this, I don't think. This is more… desperate and fast. Well, obviously it would be different from our kiss, as our kiss was between two platonic beings. Obviously.

I frown, knowing that stupid ballet recitals that you've attended a hundred of before don't compete in the slightest with going to the concert of your favourite band with your new girlfriend.

Alo hurriedly picks up the ticket and tries handing it back to me.

"Ask Mini to come instead," He says in an excited whisper, but I simply shake my head at him. I don't think I know either Mini or Liv well enough to be inviting them to my ballet recital.

Rich finally seems to come to his senses as he pulls away from Jade, or maybe it's the other way around, I don't know, and they are excitedly talking about Napalm Death for what feels like forever.

"Gracey-poo," I automatically giggle as this is said right in my ear and it tickles an enormous amount. I swivel around and find both Mini and Liv standing there.

"Mini-Moo," I test the waters to see if that is an appropriate nickname. She's smiling so I guess it's okay. "Oh, by the way, this is Alo and Rich… and uh Jade as well."

I am trying, honestly trying, to keep the excitement up in my voice for that whole sentence. I swivel back around to my boys and Alo looks like he's about to start drooling, whereas Rich is simply is raising his hand in which I guess is a form of greeting.

"Boys, this is Mini and Liv." I realize as soon as I've finished that sentence that I've called them boys and not given any recognition to Jade at all in that sentence. She seems to have realized too as she's staring at me with that odd bearing of the teeth that she was doing earlier.

"Cool… Right, are we going to sit?" Liv asks and it sounds as if she's asking Mini if they're sitting here, but Mini gives one of those wide smiles that she so often gives when she ignores the real meaning behind a question.

"Of course! Now come on, silly bitch, let's go practice our frenching somewhere… away from here!" I glance at my boys, Alo is staring up at Mini still with the inability to actually say anything and Rich is staring directly at me.

"Sure, okay!" I eventually say, standing up and picking up my bag

"I'll talk to you later, bo—," Best not to use the collective word 'boys' again when Jade is present. I'm really just looking at Rich right now anyway, because I have no idea what that facial expression of his means.

I wave a little pathetically at them, before heading off with my girls… I guess it really is changing. I can barely stand to hang around with both Rich and his Metal Princess, so I can't really be with my boys anymore, so maybe it's time to move on to my girls.

Or maybe force them to all to become life-long friends?

* * *

><p><em><strong>A:N Okay, I'm actually happy with this chapter and there was a lot going on here! Anyway I haven't really read through it because my eyes are about to fall asleep so please try to ignore any spelling/grammatical errors you've found! Hope you enjoy and next chapter includes some alone RG time :D**_


	7. Lollers

**Chapter 7: Lollers**

Violetsaregrace has joined the chat

Malonestits (15:15) hey babe

Violetsaregrace (15:15) hey… Malone stits?

Minixoxo (15:16) Silly! Malones tits, cos she's got the best x

Malonestits (15:16) too true

Violetsaregrace (15:16) Oh, of course (:

Minixoxo (15:17) Wanna come out for retail therapy? X

Malonestits (15:17) shoplifting

Violetsaregrace (15:18) Joking right? Lollers. Uhm I've got ballet now.

Malonestits (15:19) Too bad. Shoplifting without ya innocent face will be tough

Violetsaregrace (15:19) Hee hee

Minixoxo (15:21) you sound 5 when you do that.

Violetsaregrace (15:21) Haha?

Minixoxo (15:22) Better.

Violetsaregrace (15:24) I was actually wondering if you two wanted to properly hang out with my friends.

Minixoxo (15:25) Who? Manky and Gingey?

Malonestits (15:25) When?

Minixox (15:25) Liv?! You actually want to?

Malonestits (15:25) Come on, Mins. Give it a go. We should meet gracey's friends

Minixoxo (15:27) Fine… It might be somewhat amusing. When?

Violetsaregrace (15:27) Yaysers! Tomorrow night!

Minixoxo (15:28) I have a date with Nick. Soz x

Malonestits (15:29) Just tell Nickers no. You've called it off before over a fucking manicure.

* * *

><p>"Let's go through the piece starting at the one minute mark… Where the grand battement with pirouettes is."<p>

Thursday. Ballet practice has been so intense these past few days with my recital coming up on Monday so I've practically been living in the studio with just my strange, yet wonderful teacher and some fellow students. Currently we're going through my solo piece, but sometimes during group classes I just have to watch the others doing their own pieces and my mind will wander to, I don't know, my current friendy drama.

I run through my piece another two times before my teacher says we can leave. I'm so exhausted, I want to cry.

"Your piece is looking good," I fetch my bag and slip my feet into my trainers as I hear Christopher (a bit of a dippy) compliment me.

"Thanks, I hope it all goes well on Monday," I reply with a smile, slinging my bag over my shoulder.

"Course it will, you don't need to get stressed out about it." There's a pause as we open the door of the studio to head outside. "You've been looking rather stressed out over it."

"I'm really not, its okay," I say, trying to sound much more upbeat than I currently feel. "I suppose I have a lot going on other than this, so maybe… perhaps it's that."

"Right," I pull on the sleeves of my jumper as we enter outside with the cool evening air.

"But I have been perfecting my ballet joke to keep my spirits up!"

"Yes?" He asks, even though he looks like he's ready to say bye to me and walk in the opposite direction.

"What do you call a stupid ballerina?" I ask with a grin, trying not to laugh before I give the punchline.

"I don't know," He says, coming to a stop. I giggle before speaking again.

"A leo-TARD!" I laugh loudly, so proud of myself that I don't even realize that Christopher seems to have zero reaction to my joke. It's funny, laugh, Christopher, laugh!

"Do you get it?" I ask slowly after I manage to get over my own laughing fit.

"Uh… yes," He says, avoiding eye contact with me. I'm about to ask why he didn't even smile when he talks once more. "I just found that quite offensive."

And then he walks away.

"Oh."

I'm left standing by myself for a second. See what I mean by dippy, he's such a prissy-stick! I've been having ballet classes with him since I was twelve and he's cried at least that number of times in our classes. He's probably gone to cry over that joke now too. It was funny! Oh, poor Christopher, I feel a tad rotten over that.

Well, I guess a walk home awaits me as my Dad had to stay late at college today. It's too cold for this though! It's not like I can complain though to either of my parents, because they will say it's September so naturally I should be wearing a coat when I go –

Oh.

Oh no.

Please no. Pretty pretty please don't tell me that's Rich standing about twenty feet away from me this instant.

It is.

What on earth is he doing here?! He has never, ever come to meet me after ballet before. I was under the impression he didn't even know when or where I had ballet!

He's probably come to ask me to hang out with him and Jade for the evening. Or tell me we're not friends anymore because Jade forbids it. Not as if we've been acting really like friends since Monday anyway.

He's staring right at me so I can't even run away. I'm staring back at him so I can't pretend that I haven't noticed him. He's now waving. I awkwardly raise my hand up to wave back.

"Hey," He says when we've closed the distance enough to speak at a normal level to each other.

"Hello," I say, still a bit confused/startled to be quite honest. "What are you doing here?"

"Alo insisted you join us for a drink today," He starts, signaling in the direction of the pub. As if he needs an explanation for this behavior of Alo's, he adds, "Since you've been avoiding us all week."

"Avoiding you?" I repeat with a laugh that's probably too loud. Rich simply stares at me with furrowed eyebrows.

"Ahem, I haven't been." I add, once my laughter subsides.

"Yeah, well I guessed you had been busy with ballet so I just thought I'd come here and uh wait for you." I pause, before nodding and setting off at a brisk walking pace towards the pub. I never agreed to go, but I suppose I do owe them that since yes, I have been avoiding them.

I just have felt like I can't really be a friend to Rich (or Alo) with Jade there. It makes me feel uncomfortable and I don't think she really likes me anyway. And there's another reason.

I've been spending some time with Mini and Liv whilst Rich has been spending an increasing number of hours with Jade. It makes sense if I don't want to lose Rich and Alo as my friends that I a) get used to Jade and b) get us all to become one group of friends.

I'm not sure how to get part a) into motion yet, but plan b) is currently in full swing. Firstly I asked the girls if they would be willing to hang out with my boys to which they agreed and now I need to ask my boys (should be easy to convince them) if they would be willing to allow another two guests to our zombie movie night tomorrow.

"Well haven't you been busy with Jade as well?" I ask, staring at the pavement rather than looking at him, but out of the corner of my eye I see him turn to look at me as I finish asking the question.

"Uh… I guess, yeah." We remain silent for a moment as I wait for him to say something more about Jade. He doesn't and I seem to find this more annoying than him talking about her a lot. I wrap my arms around myself, trying to preserve some body heat as I think of something to add to the conversation.

"She's perfect for you," I say for the sake of saying something about her. I look back up at him and see him smirk but it's more bemused than his usual all-knowing smirks.

"What makes you say that?" Well, Richard, I don't know why I said it, so thank you, I have to now think of something off the top of my head.

"Oh… Well, her personality and she – interests, yes her interests. And fashion." I mumble, trying to sound convincing. As I say it though, I do realize it is true. They are perfect in many ways, they would have a lot to say to each other and agree on many things, which are good things in a relationship.

For example Belle and Beast had many common interests (despite the obvious differences between them) like books and snowball fights.

"Oh, yeah, well, we're getting on." He replies, as he fishes out a cigarette and lighter from his jacket pocket.

'Getting on' meaning in Rich language that they were perfect in the ways I had previously mentioned. Things in common and such. I shudder, finding the cold too much now, as I vow not to speak of Jade again for the rest of the evening.

"Uhm… here." I glance up at Rich, wondering what on earth he's talking about, only to see that he's stopped walking altogether. I stop too, seeing him remove his heavy leather jacket. He silently holds up the jacket.

"What?" I ask in barely an audible voice. He gives a small, lopsided smile as he lifts the jacket over my head and places it carefully on my shoulders. I pull on the jacket so that I can slip my arms through. We are still standing still and I'm not entirely sure what's going really. All I know is my heart is beating wildly and I am now wearing Rich's jacket. A jacket I've never seen him willingly remove unless it is in the middle of the heatwave and even then he's reluctant.

"Thank you," I breathe, smiling up at him. He smiles back with the cigarette sticking out from his mouth, giving a shrug before finally looking away and walking in the direction of the pub. I feel bad he's now in just a t-shirt in this kind of weather. We continue to walk in silence for the remainder two minutes of the walk.

* * *

><p>As we enter the Rhubarb Tavern, I become aware of what wearing a boy's jacket usually means. Most people in the pub will think we're dating and weirdly it doesn't make me feel… uncomfortable? Due to this remarkable realization that I am currently not uncomfortable, I grab Rich by the wrist before he can make his way over to the ginger boy who I can see the back of from where we're standing.<p>

Rich stares down at his wrist with one perfectly arched eyebrow before looking at me. I forget for just a moment what I wanted to do so we stand silently for a second.

"Blood," He says in a calm, sort of humorous voice. "I don't really need to hold anyone's hand when walking."

I sigh, releasing my grip and beginning to remove his jacket.

"I just… I don't need this anymore, because we're inside now." I say, extremely slowly. Why am I acting so weird? It's literally just Rich. The guy I've face painted before. The person I managed to convince that you could probably sit on clouds (it was at the very beginning of our friendship) and then he came to school the next day with many printed pages proving why I was wrong, so now he is a little less eager to believe me. The person I manage to tease at least once a day.

I've been finding it harder to tease him though lately, what is really going on with me?

I let my gaze fall as I follow Rich over to the table and get ready to be the happy, cheery and never-in-a-bad-mood Grace for Alo's sake.

"Grace Face, where the fuck have you been hiding?!" Alo asks in a loud voice as he stands up and picks me up into a hug. I laugh, before falling in the sofa seat opposite both him and Alo.

"Alopops, I have missed you dearly, but ballet has been rather demanding." I say, not really having to fake my happiness with Alo's overall enthusiasm.

As I'm happy for the first time since spotting Rich only a few minutes ago, now seems like the perfect opportunity to put the final steps of part b) into motion.

"So I actually have a question about Mini and Liv…" I tentatively begin, seeing Rich instantly lower his gaze out of silent annoyance.

"Yes. Whatever it is, yes." Alo says eagerly, leaning in closer to hear the rest of what I have to say. I laugh, shaking my head, of course Alo is the easier one to convince.

"Excellent, because I was wondering if they could possibly join us for zombie night tomorrow?" Rich snorts loudly.

"Why the fuck would they want to come to zombie night?" I haven't seen Rich raise his eyebrows that high for a couple of days at least.

"I've already asked them and they said they would love to come and get to properly know the both of you." I say with my most innocent of shrugs.

"Woah, woah, woah, Mini wants to get to know me?" I give a big, toothy smile instead of giving an actual answer to that. "Rich, man, if you steal my once-in-a-lifetime shot with the greatest breasts on a stick, I will… I will do something really shit to you."

"Fine." Rich says with a deadpan expression. I'm taken aback I didn't have to do any convincing myself. He raises a finger and points it right at me. "Just so you know we are playing an R rated zombie movie and if anyone so much as complains they will be kicked out. All right?"

"All right," I say, nodding rapidly.

"Okay, so a cranberry vodka for you?" He asks with a sort of… smile before standing up and heading to the bar.

Why is he being so nice? He rarely ever offers to buy me a drink. And he's never given me his jacket before.

"Strange…" I mumble out loud, before realizing I was actually saying that out loud.

"What?" Alo asks, looking extremely confused as I snap out of my trance and look at him.

"Oh… I just… I didn't have to convince him at all about Mini and Liv invading zombie night."

"Yeah, well, Jade's coming too so he can't really say anything."

I look back at the bar which Rich is standing at, ordering our drinks and I can't deny things anymore.

I can't argue with Franky about the differences between Rich and Alo.

I can't think of any ways to get plan a) in motion, because that's never going to happen. It's not going to happen because as long as she's dating Rich I'm not going to be able to stand being in the same room as her.

Because I have the biggest, unstoppable and soul-crushing crush on my best friend, Richard Hardbeck.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: ALERT! ALERT! Angst lies ahead. Woo thank you to my two regular reviewers, you legit are my reason for keeping this going and I always get excited to read your always lovely reviews. You two sweeties 3**_


	8. ZOMBIIIEEEEEE

**Chapter 8: ****ZOMBIIIEEEEEE**

Frankyfitzfuck has joined the chat

alosexgod (17:01) Shortstuff! About time you got your ass here!

frankyfitzfuck (17:03) Been busy, sorry! Miss you guys though

alosexgod (17:04) we all miss you too!

frankyfitzfuck (17:05) where are the blind lovebirds at then?

alosexgod (17:06) Ballet for grace, jade for rich.

frankyfitzfuck (17:06) you should do something, Alo! They fucking love each other. We've known it for agesssss

alosexgod (17:08) HEY, what the fuck can I do?!

frankyfitzfuck (17:08) We'll think of something…

frankyfitzfuck (17:08) Isn't it zombie movie night 2moz?

alosexgod (17:10) yh :P ZOMBIIIEEEEEE

frankyfitzfuck (17:11) Sooooo… y don't you just give them some time to talk. You know, hint to Rich or Grace that the other one likes them.

alosexgod (17:12) Grace is bringing her fitty friends though.

frankyfitzfuck (17:12) fitty friends? Huh?

alosexgod (17:15) Ohhh… just these 2 new friends of hers.

frankyfitzfuck (17:16) She never told me about them.

alosexgod (17:17) Dunno why… jade's coming too.

frankyfitzfuck (17:17) I already hate her.

alosexgod (17:19) We all do.

* * *

><p>"We literally swam through a knee-level amount of cowshit for this?" Mini asks, doing quite a good job at remaining calm under the current circumstances. Well, I think she might be overreacting as well, because we didn't really do swimming, but it is always horrible to have to walk over the field to the farm.<p>

"Aloha ladies," Alo pops his head around the door to the barn, as all three of us show varying levels of excitement to his appearance. Mini being annoyed, Liv being amused and me rushing over to get picked up by my very best friend.

"Aloha Alo," I squeak with a giggle, as he puts me back down.

"Mini, Liv, you're in for a treat." He says, as he points over to his makeshift coffee table that has bowls full of popcorn on it and a little cooler which I assume is full to the brim with beer. I raise my eyebrows at him with a small smile, as zombie nights usually consist of us huddled on the sofa with Rich and Alo excitedly shouting at all the gruesome scenes whilst Franky and I try to annoy them with 'obvious' questions about zombies. We never get treats to go with it, unless you include his Mum's leftovers, which I don't usually.

"Plus Rich and Jade are sorting out nachos." I should be extremely surprised over the additional nachos, but my heart is sinking fast at the mention of those two names together.

Ah, yes. The realization that I have a crush on Rich Hardbeck was so surprising that I've tried not to think about it since. 'Tried' being the operative word, I've barely been able to think about anything else. I always wondered what crushes as big as this would feel like, the joy I would feel over being one step closer to finding true love, but it's all a bit… rubbish.

"Right, what's first in this shitfest then?" Mini asks, plopping down on the sofa after trying to remove as much dog hair as she can from it.

Alo looks like he wants to bound straight after her, but he plays it cool (well, cool for Alo) by first approaching me. I'm still standing near the door, feeling too depressed to make fun of the movie titles like I can hear Liv doing right now.

"Chin up, Gracey, it might never happen." He says, playfully lifting up my chin.

It has happened though. And is happening right now as I can hear Jade and Rich fast approaching due to the soft sounds of laughter filling the air. I want to die.

Maybe not that extreme, but I wouldn't say no to the ground opening up right now and swallowing me so I could live in a dark place until this zombie movie night is over.

"Hiya Rich. Jade, hi." I say with the weakest of smiles as Rich comes to a silent halt as he sees me.

"Hey Grace." He states, finally moving to place the nachos on the table. I take a deep breath, finally moving away from the door and deciding to participate in the 'fun'.

Alo has, of course chosen the seat nearest Mini, whilst Rich chose the seat next to Alo and Jade sat next to him. Liv has chosen the armchair next to Mini and that leaves me with only one option: a little stool with no back to it. I don't know about you, but I do not do well with chairs that have no backs to them. Also this means I am sitting almost directly in front of Jade and Rich – I'm going to feel like some sort of pet. Hopefully a cat.

I clear my throat, carefully perching myself on the edge of the stool, so that I don't end up falling backwards. Everyone else seems to be arguing over which movie to start with, so hopefully they don't notice on how many levels I'm uncomfortable with this. Well, Jade isn't arguing, but I can hear her complaining to Rich about how cold it is. Against my better judgment I listen a little more closely.

"It's fucking freezing, I'm going to need a blanket or twelve to suffer through this movie." Out of curiosity my head snaps around to see what Rich is wearing. Like I suspected he's wearing his leather jacket. He could easily just give it to her, he gave me his jacket yesterday and I didn't even complain about the weather! Or did I? I can't really remember, because all I was thinking at the time was, 'I can't believe this is happening. What's happening? His jacket. Yes, his jacket, he just gave me his jacket!'

Rich catches my eye and before I have time to act like I was staring at the woodwork just above his head, he speaks.

"Are you okay on the shit seat?" And now he's not even responding to his girlfriend, but asking me how I'm doing? This is just unacceptable on so many levels and Jade must notice it too.

"Uh Rich? I'm cold." Rich slowly turns his face from mine to hers as I turn back to stare at the screen that now has a DVD menu on it. Guess everyone made a decision without me.

"Uhhm… yeah, blankets. Right. At the back on the bed there should be some." I hear Rich finally responding to Jade. I don't dare to look back around for the entire duration of the movie.

* * *

><p>Finally! So long as nobody suggests a second movie, I should be free to leave now. I can't stop the grin from spreading across my facial features as the ending credits begin. In my head I'm dancing wildly at the thought, in reality I'm still sitting on the shit seat.<p>

"That actually wasn't half bad, ginger minger." Mini finally notes, probably making Alo the happiest he's ever been.

"Still shit, but a good kind of shit." Liv also says, I turn to look at them all, and I was right. Alo has turned an attractive shade of tomato red and it's incredibly adorable.

I should be extremely happy with this outcome as well, I mean I was trying to get us all to become one big happy gang and it seems to be slowly but surely working. I just can only think about how much I don't want Rich and Jade to be together and it's selfish of me. I don't know how much longer I can bear it.

"We could do another one then. Meat Market 2 anyone?" No, no, no. I need to leave. Not just because of the shit seat, but also as Rich and Jade are beginning to make out.

"Eh… It wasn't that great, Alo. I'm going." I have never been so happy to hear Mini say something downright rude. Even if it means Alo's little puppy face has fallen. Again it's just another sign that I'm being selfish.

"Well, wait, it would be rude to not at least do one round of beer, right?" Liv, darnit, why does she have to develop a conscious over how they're treating Alo. No, no, I'm sure I can handle one drink.

"Fine. One drink then we leave. Before I get accustomed to the smell of 50 shades of shit." Alo perks up once more despite the insult.

"I think you should come to our club night as well." Liv says casually, which confuses me and seems to irritate Mini.

"Club night?" I ask blankly.

"Ah yes, club night. For us girlies, we were going to discuss it later." Mini says, staring at me before snapping her head towards Liv. "Alo's not a girl, Liv."

"I'm practically one. Come on, it'll be fun, you can help me get laid."

"That would take a century of hard work." Mini says through gritted teeth, but she doesn't seem to be as against the idea as I've heard her be about other things. I feel like if Alo did come though it would end with him being sad.

"Yeah, fun. We can invite the tonguers as well." Liv adds, not looking too pleased with that addition.

"Uh… pretty sure they've got date night, but I'm totally free and ready." Mini turns away, looking extremely annoyed, but still she hasn't said no. Alo seems to take this as a yes as well for he begins throwing beers to all the girls.

"Gracey?" He asks and I nod, getting ready to catch a bottle.

Okay, I never realized until exactly now how terrible of an aim Alo has. The bottle is heading straight behind me and – I'm pretty sure everyone knows where this is going due to the shit seat – due to the lack of back padding on my seat, I fall backwards, lying in the mud and straw. My dignity has flown away as I see Rich and Jade finally pull away from the kiss, either because they heard the thud of me falling or they can hear the uproar of everyone laughing at me.

"You okay?" ARGH, WHY DOES HE HAVE TO KEEP ASKING THINGS AND BEING SWEET?! I can see Jade smirking at my current position, but Rich is leaning forward as if he wants to help me, not laugh at me.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Dandy as a dandelion. I'm just going to go to the bathroom, I think." I say hurriedly, as I try to stand up and leave as fast as possible.

As soon as I get out of the barn, I simply stand around the corner, trying to get some deeper perspective on the whole night.

It was sucky. That's the only conclusion I can come to.

"Why are you looking so miserable tonight?" Of course it's Rich who follows me out like a concerned person to fuel my crush on him. Why couldn't he remain the bastard that he always is? I would still have a crush on him, but maybe then it would be easier to be around him.

"Why aren't you inside with Jade?" It comes across sharper than I intended, just another string of proof that I can't cope with emotional feelings for this boy.

"Uh… because I wanted to come and ask why you're so miserable?" He asks, looking taken aback by my shortness with him.

"No, Rich, why haven't you been giving Jade your jacket or finding out what she wants to drink or just doing anything that a boyfriend does with a girlfriend? Why are you just doing it with me? I'm not yours," My voice grows quiet as I reach the last sentence, mainly because I'm regretting saying it as soon as it comes out of my mouth.

That sentence is a little too close to the truth; it's upsetting me so much because that's right, I'm not his.

"I -," He says, blinking a few times as he stares at me. Then he licks his lips as he's about to fight back. "I know you're not mine, Grace. This is why you're miserable?"

"I'm not miserable." I state in a rather decided manner before lowering my gaze to stare at my shoes. We remain in silence for a short while until I hear him sigh loudly.

"Believable that was. Very fucking believable… Look I've only been trying to be nicer to you because, you know, you've been acting like a -,"

"Like a what?" I ask, trying to hide my outrage and hurt, but doing a terrible job at it.

"Like a horrible person." I let out a noise which is a mixture between a growl and a sigh, because of course that wasn't the description of me he was going to use. "You've barely spoken to me unless I've forced you into it and so I thought if I was nicer then maybe you'd want to spend more time with us."

I pout, slowly turning to look back at him. He looks really hurt that I've been so distant; I decide to make one smaller attempt to get my point across.

"It's just been since you started hanging around Jade, I feel a little out of…" I would continue on, but he's been shaking his head since I started speaking.

"It was before that. It's since the kiss." Silence grows as he finishes that sentence. I open my mouth to say something, to argue that he's wrong, but I've known since that kiss that I had feelings for him; my head's only just caught up with this fact though.

"Rich," Jade couldn't have come outside to interrupt us at a better time, because I have no idea what I would say in that moment. It might have been me telling him how much I like him.

"Uh yeah," Rich replies vaguely, turning away from staring at my face to look at his girlfriend who is fast approaching where we're standing. I feel an uneasy breath escaping my lips, wondering how I'm ever going to accept the fact that they are boyfriend and girlfriend.

"We should go. Those bitches are beyond irritating, no offense, Grace, I know they're your friends and all, but…" She pulls a face at the end of her sentence before planting a kiss on Rich's cheek. I don't know how I'm ever going to get over it. They are boyfriend and girlfriend, they are made for each other, I picked her for him for crying out loud, but how I wish it was me instead of her.

I'm never going to get over it and if it's making Rich confused about why I can barely talk to him then doesn't he deserve to know. Or is that me being selfish again?

"Sure, let's go to my place or something." He says with a small half-smile playing on his lips. He never smiles when I complain about anything.

"Cool, I'll get my bag." She gives him a wider smile which makes him smile even more as well. I just can't do this.

"Rich…" I start as she walks out of earshot. "I don't think I'm going to be able to hang out much with you for a while."

"What?" He asks with no rudeness or anger in his voice just confusion. His eyes are wide and my probably reflect this as I am sure mine are beginning to well up. This is the best I can make of the situation though. If I could get away with finding it unbearable to hang out with him due to my feelings without hurting Rich then I would do it, but with all the questions he's asked tonight…. I just can't. Rich loves honesty more than anyone else I know and if I can't be honest with him then I'll probably lose him as a friend forever.

"I like you a lot… More than just friends and I'm sorry, I just don't know how to be around you right now." As soon as the words leave me I realize how selfish I'm being, possibly ending our friendship all because I have feelings for him. It's so unfair and I also realize, for once, I don't really care if I'm being selfish, because know I'm not going to be able to keep up normality around him for at least a while. I'm on the verge of tears and he is simply staring into space, still looking just as confused as before.

I wipe at one of my eyes before setting off towards Alo's empty barn, hoping for some peace and quiet when a voice pulls me back.

"Grace," I only have the tiniest amount of courage to stop and look back at him over my shoulder. He is awkwardly standing with one hand in his hair and it gives me hope that maybe what he's about to say isn't so bad at all.

"We can't just not spend time together… You're my best friend." I feel like a massive pink elephant has walked right up to me and kicked me in my tummy.

Jade is re-approaching, so I know I have to get out of here as quickly as possible.

"Sorry," I practically murmur before running off in the direction of Alo's house. Perhaps I can get a lift from Alo's Dad or something home. I just need to get out of here fast.

I can't believe we've ended things like that. It was both the nicest and most heart-wrenching thing he had ever said to me.

He has never told me straight out before that I'm his best friend.

I'm still only a friend when it comes to the ranks of relationships.

* * *

><p><strong>an: SO IT'S BEEN A WHILE! I've got way too many excuses for why that took so long and to return with just a filler chapter makes me feel sad. BUTTTT**

**The BIG chapter I've been talking about since basically the beginning is the next chapter. YAYSERS! Stuff happens that make it a pretty big turning point in the story, it's pretty much one of the climatic points imo, so I hope you're all excited for it! LOVE YOU ALL**


	9. Trim Your Garden

**OKAY, so yeah I've had to split this chapter in half because it was getting WAY too long, but that means one extra chapter guys! The next chapter is a Rich/Grace only chapter. NO OTHER CHARACTERS holla. Wow, you sexy bitches, thanks for all the reviews on the last one, it means a lot to me. **

**What you can expect from here on out: recycled skins quotes, ladies showdown, weird RG interaction and :'( grace**

**HOPE YOU ENJOY EVEN IF IT'S NOT AS EXCITING AS I HAD PREVIOUSLY PROMISED (new chapter by latest monday 3)**

**Chapter 9: Trim your garden**

minixoxo (20:46) liv and I'll be round in 15. X

violetsaregrace (20:51) what? I thought I was meeting you later

minixoxo (20:53) Nope. We're dolling you up!

violetsaregrace (20:53) Oh…

minixoxo (20:54) Not excited?

violetsaregrace (20:55) I am! It's just I already started getting ready.

minixoxo (20:57) Then stop! Just make sure you freshen up and you know trim your garden x

violetsaregrace (20:58) EW

minixoxo (20:58) Babe, you are going to be so sexilicious that you'll defo get laid.

violetsaregrace (20:59) LOL… no

violetsaregrace (20:59) Uhmm… Mins, be nice to Alo tonight please.

minixoxo (21:01) Can't promise anything. See you in a sec! Xxxx

* * *

><p>I am an idiot. I am a stupid little girl who thinks that telling your best friend you have romantic feelings for them is a good way of getting out of a friendship. I could have said so many other things! Like…. I'm moving to Switzerland? I'm going to just be friends with Mini and Liv from now on? My Dad demands I don't be friends with you anymore? I can't stand you anymore? So many other things other than the darn truth!<p>

Anyway, I don't want to think about it. I mean, it's the only thing I have been thinking about since, but I'm sure I can just stop thinking about it if I try really hard. I can think about cats instead, or Disney, or just sing. Oh yes, singing.

THERE'S SOMETHING SWEET, AND ALMOST KIND,

BUT HE WAS CRUEL AND HE WAS COARSE AND UNREFINED.

I start to dance a little around my room as I hum the tune aloud. I'm waiting for Mini and Liv to come over and it's making all a bit nervous to be perfectly honest. I chose out a fabulous lilac party gown that makes me feel like Audrey Hepburn herself, but Mini wants to do me up herself. 'Get me laid' in her words.

Ew.

I can't be flirting with anyone, I don't think, as my affections for Rich are still present. I mean I think this crush business is even worse now that we're not talking anymore. No pub, no hangouts, no phone calls and no texts. I hate it, I miss him being grumpy with me at my bizarre early morning phone calls and when I turn up unexpectedly at his house with ice cream and a movie he'll so obviously hate. It's been two days but I miss him. Alo texted me about tonight, because he's still coming and all that was mentioned of Rich was that he had a date tonight. Uhh… no, got to stop thinking about this, got to be happy for tonight.

"TRUE THAT HE'S NO PRINCE CHARMING

BUT THERE'S SOMETHING IN HIM THAT I SIMPLY DIDN'T SEE"

"What the fuck?" I sit up from my bed where I was rolling around and singing the words loudly to see Liv and Mini both standing in the doorway staring at her and laughing. I can only shrug and give a sheepish smile.

Uh-oh, Mini is carrying a huge duffel bag; this must mean there are a lot of beauty preparation stuff for me in there. Or it's empty and it's for my dead body later. Oh no, that's something Rich would totally say. Time to hum the tune in my head again. I, Grace Violet Blood, promise that if I think of Richard Hardbeck tonight I will hum immediately.

"Well, okay, princess let's get you dolled up."

Forty-five minutes later (I know, I know, what kind of time is this to be leaving the house, but Mini said herself this is when all the cool kids go out) and I look drastically different to how I did with my classic dress on. My hair has been straightened slightly, I say slightly because with curly locks like mine it's difficult to get it properly straight but it's got a nice bounce to it now. Liv worked on my hair whilst Mini did my make-up. My eyes look like little fairies have come and physically stretched each individual eyelash and then delicately pattered along my eyelid to add a strong line of eyeliner. That maybe doesn't sound as pretty as it actually looks. I've got on bright red lipstick as well and I just basically look unrecognizable in the mirror before me right now.

Sure I've done my make-up myself for a long time now, but I barely put any on, mostly because I'm not sure what I'm really doing with any of it. My Mum has been the only female in my life who has been able to show me what to do with make-up and seeing as she's not a real fan of it herself, it was the bare basics.

I haven't even spoken about my dress! A black, bustier, sweetheart and above knee-length dress. Oh, I have no idea what I just said, but I'm sure it'll make sense to someone. The only thing I'm having an issue with right now are the heels. Thank goodness I'm a ballerina, otherwise there would be a 100% chance of me falling over tonight. I've pulled that percentage back to at least 75%.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Mini murmurs as I stare at my reflection dubiously. I can never tell with Mini if she's swearing in a good way or a bad.

"Yes?" I ask, my eyes widening curiously at her reflection in the mirror too. She's looking beautiful herself in a deep pink halter neck dress and strappy heels which are at least double the size of mine.

"Fuck me sideways levels of smoking." Liv contributes, which I assume is a good thing. Mini approaches me from behind and tucks a piece of my now luxuriously straight hair behind my ear to say,

"You look bloody amazing, every guy is going to be drooling over you tonight." A grin starts to spread on my face to mimic hers, as she grabs my hand and twirls me around once before we start to leave. My Dad is still out for some work-y conference-y thing so thankfully he won't be around to tell me to go straight back upstairs and change. Also my parents think I am simply going to a cute girly sleepover (which I will be afterwards!) so they won't be worried when I don't come back early tonight.

As we waltz out my front door, decked in our night outfits and massive coats to stop us from catching pneumonia, I can feel a warm tingling feeling welling up inside me, a feeling so strong I don't need to sing to forget about Rich, because I finally feel like I've reached the moment of being a proper girl. Sure this feeling is only going to last a few minutes and I'll be straight back to thinking about how I threw away a five year friendship over some stupid romance that I've probably made up in my head, but… I can make the most of it for now.

* * *

><p>"Ladies," I smile at the ever so familiar voice that comes from behind me in the queue for drinks. Oh yes, the queue. I showed a lot of surprise that you were expected to wait half an hour to get into a club and then further waiting time for drinks, but Mini insisted this was how these things work. I don't know enough about clubs to either confirm or deny this statement. Ha, I sounded like a Prime Minister or just somebody really mega important then!<p>

"Alo!" I cheer with a massive grin, yet my eyes are on Mini as I see her pull a face at Alo's entrance.

"Holy shit, Gracey," Alo says, eyeing my hair and dress.

"Almost forgot we were supposed to be expecting you," She cuts through the cheeriness with that statement. I don't know what else to do except give her a wide-eyed expression, hoping she remembers my warning from before. She gets distracted by the bartender asking for our order so I try to smile once more at my best friend.

"I tried texting you once we got here, but it didn't seem to work. Sorry," I say, hoping he knows I wasn't trying to stop him coming. I need my friends to merge. The two groups – Mini and Liv and then… well, Alo, just Alo, I guess. It doesn't matter if they get on with my ex-best friend I suppose.

"Yeah, signal's shit. I was on the phone to Rich and it just cut off." Even though I try to control my facial expressions it's obvious how intrigued I am by just that one sentence.

"What?" I shout to match his shouting, as the noise levels in this place making talking at a normal level absolutely impossible.

"Huh?"

"Rich? Why was he on the phone? Doesn't he have a date?" I realize I just asked way too many questions in one breath as Alo cocks an eyebrow up at me.

"Slow down, shortie. I don't know, he was just asking where we were and stuff." I crinkle my nose in confusion and Alo seems to be doing in response to my actions.

"Why?" The one-word question that could quickly lead to me spilling the truth once more. This time though I take the smarter option and keep my mouth shut, opting for a simple shrug instead.

"All right, this round on me," Alo states, leaning around me to access Mini and Liv with the drinks. I don't turn around to the others immediately as I feel like now is the time to attempt to sing once more in my head. Just forget about it, Grace. Forget.

* * *

><p>"Nobody at this table is drunk enough. SHOTS!" Liv shouts, placing yet another tray of shots on the table. I've never drank this much in my entire life. My little gang have drank quite a lot before, but I usually backed out because of the taste; I tried backing out on the second round of shots but Mini was trying to guilt me, so that's that.<p>

"Shots!" The rest of us cheer, before clinking glasses and swallowing the hard vodka. Despite how awful the shots are, the fact that you have to queue for everything and the loud, deafening music, I'm having a very pleasant time.

Alo spins me as I begin to twirl around on the spot with Liv coming over and dancing too. Due to my head now feeling like a lady doing the can can, I spin probably a tad bit too enthusiastically. Spinning, spinning and falling right into some poor passerby. I look up to either say sorry or to laugh, when I freeze completely.

I think it's obvious who is currently holding me and trying to stop me from falling further.

"Rich?" I ask, momentarily forgetting that I told him I liked him and that we can't be friends anymore. A smile, a small one, but still a smile, is appearing on my face as he turns around from Alo to look at me. He seems confused and then I remember. We seem to stare at each other for what feels like an eternity.

"What are you doing here?" I finally ask, stepping out of his arms and brushing myself off, trying to avoid looking at him, but finding that I can't just not look at him.

"Uhm… Jade is sick so…" He practically mutters yet I still manage to understand what he's saying. It's ever so strange, all I've been trying to do tonight is forget about him, but in the space of a few seconds I've managed to forget the existence of everyone else in this club.

"Oh," I breathe with a nod.

"Mate," Alo breaks in between us to pull his best friend into a hug. "You never said you were coming."

"I texted," Rich replies, trying to keep a stony expression, but he can't help but smile at Alo kissing him on the cheek.

"Yeah, shit signal. Drinks?" He asked the last question in a louder yell, as I guess it was directed at all of us. Mini pulls on my arm from behind in the midst of all this.

"Silly bitch, bust some moves?" She pulls on my arm a little more and I let out a giggle. We haven't even gone onto the main dancefloor yet, it'll be so exciting. Twirling, spinning and not knocking into Rich-like figures on the floor. SUCCESS!

"Woo...Ooh, I'm going to dance then." I probably slur, turning to chase after my girlies, but I feel a hand lightly grasp around my wrist and before I have time to look for the face belonging to the wrist, I can feel hot breath on the side of my neck.

"Be careful." Rich has stooped down to my level just to tell me that. I ignore the fact that my heart is beating so fast, the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up straight and that all my urges tell me to do is stay right where I am. Instead I listen to my head. He didn't listen to anything I said, did he? Otherwise he wouldn't be here right now, telling me what to do and acting like… like he actually cares about me. In a more than friendly way.

Oh no, I'm so drunk. Why am I listening to my drunk self?

"Of what?" I snap, fully listening to my drunk self. Rich looks like he expected me to simply say okay or something, but he doesn't back down.

"You know, sleazy guys or whatever. I mean, when you look… so," I don't want to be part of this conversation anymore and I don't have to be. I don't want to know if he's going to tell me I look good or that I look like a… slut or something like that.

"Well, fuck careful." And I walk off.

* * *

><p>Dancing and being silly with my girlies is fun, but 'sleazy guys' is definitely something that comes with that<p>

"Heya gorgeous," I stick my nose up in disgust, as someone not so subtly brushes his hand up against my lower regions. Ew.

"No, thank you," I say, trying to remain as polite as I can. He backs off a little bit, but I can feel his eyes still on me. Liv gives the guy the evil eye, which I fully appreciate, but Mini shakes her head at me.

"He was fit, what's up with you?" She has this horrible habit of making me feel bad for something I know I shouldn't feel bad for. I give a shake of my head and try to get back into dancing, but she holds my arm still.

"Nah, Mini, he was a fucking creep." Liv joins, which seems to annoy Mini more.

"Please, Mins, let's just dance and forget boys?" I shout, wishing I could do exactly that. Forget one boy in particular anyway.

"You've gotten all moody since you came to dance, what's up with you?" She says the last part of her question very slowly, making sure I can't run away from that question. I drop my head, feeling the truth rising in my throat once more.

"Rich is just being weird with me…" I say a little quieter, secretly hoping she won't hear my response.

"Uh, earth to Grace, he's always really weird." She says in that harsh tone she always seems to use about Rich. I snap my head back up to look at her and she's raising an eyebrow as if she's challengingly me to argue back.

"Hey –," I start a little feebly, which makes it easy for Mini to interrupt me.

"You said it yourself," She states, which starts to make me angry, because I never said that and would never say that. He's not like that at all.

"But I can, because I -," And she interrupts me once more, I clench my fists, never feeling so much anger towards someone before.

"He's a fucking dick and super judgmental. I mean he acts like he's better than everyone else when he's practically the scum of the -,"

"Mini," Liv half pleads and half warns. I wonder if that's because she can see my face turning red. I can't hold it in anymore.

"No no, just stop it. I've had enough of the way you talk about him, okay? It's really mean. He's my best friend and the nicest person I know. So, if you can't say anything nice about him then we… we can't be friends anymore."

Mini at first looks shocked, blinking several times at my worn out, exasperated expression. However she soon straightens up, giving me a smug smile.

"I knew it. I fucking knew it. You're in love with Valhalla." She laughs, shaking her head at me. I open my mouth to argue, but I can't think of anything to say. It would be a lie anyway.

"Just leave." I say, before storming off the dancefloor myself to go back to the table to get my bag.

Maybe she's been testing me all this time. Maybe she's known all along, maybe I've been so stupidly obvious with my feelings that she's known the whole time. Not that I love Rich, I don't, I just have a really big crush on him. There's a difference between those things.

"Grace? GRACE!" I look up, beginning to realize my eyes are smarting up. Alo is staring at me like a concerned mother hen and Rich… Well, I'm not sure how to describe his facial expression. I grab my bag, wanting to get out of this place as soon as possible.

"Where you off to, gracey face?" Alo asks, attempting to walk over to me. I shake my head, not wanting to wipe at my eyes, in case it brings more attention to the fact that I'm on the verge of crying all because of a small confrontation.

"I told you to be fucking careful, Grace. These places are shitholes full of creeps and skanks -," I make a loud groaning noise out of frustration.

"Then why are you here if you hate it so much?" I yell, hearing the croakiness in my throat from the tears that are now falling. He simply stares at me, looking like he wants to argue back, but I start walking away already.

I hate him. Yet Mini is right as well.


	10. If You're Lucky

**Chapter 10: If you're Lucky**

Rich: I can't come tonight

Jade: uh why? Are you dying or something?

Rich: Kind of. Family dinner

Rich: Can't get out of it x

Jade: pfft. Send me updates of how shit it is.

Jade: And tomorrow night, if you're lucky… you know.

Jade: Rich?

* * *

><p>Lots of people say that you notice your loneliness and can embrace it when you're alone at the cinema or dining solo, but you notice your loneliness a lot when you're perched on a step outside a nightclub in the cold whilst also being drunk. I don't think I'm really embracing it now either.<p>

Everyone will probably think I've snapped or something. I mean, I'm a nice person! I know I am, I try to be so fucking hard that I never have a go at people and now I've yelled at Mini, a girl I barely know and has been actually nice to me, and Rich… It's not his fault that I have a crush on him.

My mind might be freezing over right now; because I left my coat somewhere inside the club and obviously I can't go back in there. It's only been five minutes, but I may have pneumonia. I don't know why I'm sitting here, maybe a mixture of crying and hoping.

"Grace!" Yes, that's what a small part of me was hoping for. Best friends always chase the other out of places, they're the ones who will take care of you when nobody else will, and dare I say it, hold your hair back when you puke? Well, I've held his before.

"Richie," I barely murmur, rubbing at my tear stained cheeks as I see him literally running across the street towards me. Yes, I managed to cross the street in my semi-angry, fully-drunk state and find a decent - in terms of hygiene – step to sit on. He comes to a halt as he reaches the stairs, forcing me to look up at him. To my surprise a small smirk is forming on his face, as if I'm being myself and not currently in a pool of tears.

"Ugh… So you're still being horrible to me then?" He's referring to his nickname and he's joking, but it's hitting too close to home – it's true. I stare up for a while, biting down hard on my bottom lip as I try to suppress the guilt, but he simply shakes his head at my expression, taking the spot next to me.

For a second I think he's putting his arm around me, but he is in actuality wrapping my coat around my shoulders. At least it's my coat he's putting over me this time instead of his.

"I haven't been that horrible, have I, Richie?" He laughs slightly, but I still stare hopelessly at him – needing him to say I hadn't been, even if we both knew I had.

"Well… this is the calmest you've been all night." He's taking the piss out of me. Even now. I guess it's making me a mixture of annoyed and sad and maybe happy that he's not holding this against me.

"Well… I did say I didn't want to spend time with you anymore." I say carefully, staring at my hands to avoid looking at him. He grows silent for a while and I worry he'll take my words literally and leave me here.

"Because we're not friends anymore? Yeah… I guess I shouldn't have come." Usually when Rich speaks I can tell whether he's smirking or not – this time he is deadly serious.

"Why did you?" I finally look back up, all my anger for this boy subsiding, wanting nothing more than to rest my head against his shoulder and stop my drunky head from spinning. It's that hope again… It makes my feelings for him stronger – hope that he'll come running to my side and now hope that he'll tell me he's here for me and, I don't know, wants to be with me.

"Blame Alo." He replies finally, stifling a short laugh. I furrow my eyebrows at this, I thought Alo was just surprised as me by Rich's arrival, but then again I've been drunk for most of the night (or early morning now) so everything's been a tad blurry.

"Where's your new besties then?" Rich asks, leaning in and talking in a girly voice.

"Ha," I mutter shortly, remembering how I argued with her all for his sake. Alcohol is the best cure for liars, that's what my Dad always says when he says he doesn't want a drink with his meal. Then my parents laugh, I guess I finally get that 'joke'.

"They might have left… I argued with Mini after she was actually horrible about you."

He doesn't say anything. I don't know if he even visually reacts to this news, because I am now resting my head on his shoulder. I don't want to move.

"All right, you drunk, let's get you in a taxi." I sit up confused, wondering why this sounds like a bad idea. Oh right…. Taxi to home, home means parents and parents mean trouble.

"I can't," I whine more loudly than I anticipated. "I was supposed to be having a sleepover with Mini and Liv. A really cute sleepover with fluffy pillows."

I drift off, now only being able to think of fluffy pillows and deep sleep. Rich stands up, pulling on my arm softly, but with great command.

"Fine… You can crash at mine."

I continue to let him pull me up, but of course I'm completely stunned by how simply he states that. He knows how I feel about him and there is no sign on his face that it might make him at all uncomfortable. He's basically said it like we're normal right now… I wish we were. I wish I hadn't said anything, because this… this friendship and everything it comes with is so much better than him knowing the truth or anything more between us.

As I stand up properly, I clasp onto his hand tighter, swinging his arm slightly as we walk towards the road to, presumably, hail for a cab. I swing a little too violently and knock myself in the eye with my hand.

"AHH!" I shout pointlessly, stopping to rub at my face, which knocks my balance a little bit off centre and so I can feel myself beginning to sway. Rich comes to my rescue once more by placing a steadying arm around my shoulders.

"I have never, ever seen you this drunk before."

"No, no, no, Richie, I don't drink that often." I argue, which he snorts loudly at.

"Uh yeah. So I've never seen you this drunk before."

"Yes," I agree, feeling more confused than I would like to admit at this moment in time.

"Okay, Blood, let's get you in this cab. It's the stationary vehicle right in front of us." He says all this very slowly and all I can gather from it is that he's making fun of my current state.

"SHHH…" I say, louder than I actually wanted to do, which results in him stepping away from me in, probably, fear that I am going to next hit him violently to match the way I just spoke to him. A few seconds pass and I think we travel back into a safetyzone, or I start swaying too much again, for he steps closer once more to open the door with one hand and steady me with the other. I slide/fall into the seat and greet the driver in a far more jovial manner than currently describes my mood.

"Good morning sir, I've had a wonderful evening, how about yourself?" I lean towards the front, smiling up at him. He gives me a sour look for what feels like an eternity before turning to look at Rich, who is sitting right next to me.

"Extra ten pounds if she throws up."

* * *

><p>"Thank you for your services, it's been ever so jolly."<p>

"Ugh, Grace, just shut up already." I am about to protest loudly at this with my main source of argument being that the driver has been enjoying my conversation for the past ten minutes, but the next sentence out of the driver's mouth kind of shoots down my response.

"Yes, please." How very, very rude! I was absolutely positive he enjoyed my debate on why acapella singing is still underrated despite the usage of it in things like Glee. Rich didn't, but I had never expected him to.

"Right, there's your money." Rich states blandly, opening the passenger and beginning to pull on my arm once more, but I am trying to lean in closer to the driver, who I found out is called Pavin, to leave him with some scathing words.

"I think you're a Slytherin, because you're just here accepting money from us poor innocent -,"

"Grace!" Rich has reached that kind of level of annoyed that I don't want to argue with, even in my drunk state.

"Okay," I say in a small voice as I follow him out of the cab to walk towards his house. I've been here so many times over the years; they were mainly for uninvited visits like when Franky and I discovered him and Alo had planned a boys only sleepover.

The walk towards the house is torturous, I am both so aware of my surroundings and yet so not aware at the same time. I can only hear my high heels in this silence and also of course the whining of a few lonely cats. Rich keeps hold of me the whole time, even when he needs to open his front door with his key. He has a terrible door that makes it nearly always impossible to open.

"For fucksake," He swears, as he fails with each turn to open said door.

"Pull the door more towards you," I say, beginning to rest my eyes by closing them and then resting my head by leaning on his arm for a one-sided cuddle.

"Geroff," He says, clearly annoyed that I give him the piece of advice that results in the opening of the door.

"I WONDER WHY I DIDN'T SEE IT THERE BEFORE!" Oh goodness, why did I just sing? And so loudly? And those lyrics? Yes, brilliant idea to sing the song I was singing to take my mind off Rich earlier in front of him.

"Jesus fucking Christ on a stick, Grace." He mutters, before covering my mouth with one of his hands. I squeak out an apology before attempting to remove my shoes by the door. He sighs and continues to mutter curse words under his breath. It makes me feel slightly guilty. His poor parents might have been woken up by that.

"You go up first and I'll follow." I whisper quite loudly, preparing myself for the beyond torturous crawl up the stairs, but the thought of comfy pillows motivates me greatly.

Once we reach his room there's an awkward silence as we both stare at his double bed. When it's gotten too long, I turn to look up at him.

"Right," He states, obviously sensing my stare. "You sleep there, I'll sleep on the floor."

"Rich… Don't be silly, you sleep under and I'll be over."

"What?"

"Or tops and tails?

"Sure, sure." I fall to a sitting position on his bed, as he removes his jacket and leaves it on the space next to me. He looks like he's about to take off his shirt as well, but stops himself. Instead he starts walking off towards his bedroom door.

"Where are you going?" He lets out a loud sigh.

"Dental hygiene."

I sigh. His bed is much comfier than I remember, I take this opportunity of solitude to make snow angels on his bed which is so much fun I giggle out loud. It vibrates when I do that as well. Oh, wait, that's not right. Snow angels don't cause vibrations. It must be my phone, but it never does that. OH, OH, Rich! Maybe it's Alopops!

I sit up to rummage through his leather jacket pockets before eventually finding it in the right hand side one.

Oh. No. Not. Alo.

I shouldn't have done that. She's not sick and Rich… well, I don't know if he didn't have a family dinner, but if he did then why would he lie about that to us? I bet on all the kittens in the world that Alo never invited him to come out with us either. I remember (vaguely, but I remember) Alo greeting Rich by saying that he hadn't expected him, or something along those lines. Ugh, nobody should try remember things when drunk, because it causes headaches. It now feels like a pink elephant is jumping on my head.

A shuffling noise in the hallway causes me to hurriedly place Rich's mobile back into his jacket pocket, so that I can look like I've just been sitting and waiting for his return.

"Hi," I say slowly and softly, giving him my best innocent smile. He gives me a slightly bemused expression before smiling back at me. He walks over to give me a glass filled with some sort of liquid.

"Why are you giving me vodka?" I ask, jumping to probably the far less logical conclusion.

"It's water, stupid." He practically grunts, any sense of bemusement gone from him. "And here's a bucket so that you don't vomit all over my Napalm Death bedsheets."

"Oh, okay."

I take a sip and for some reason all the silence in just those few moments seem to build up on me. I can feel my sadness that I've buried begin to build up and some sort of truth vomit is rising in my throat. I can't pretend anymore that we're just friends. Well, we are, or we should be, but I need to make sure we can be normal now. I need to know he doesn't hold that conversation against me.

"I saw your phone. I know she's not sick. Why did you come?" It's weird how croaky my voice has gotten, like I'm already getting emotional and he hasn't even answered that big, looming question yet. What do I think his answer is going to be? That he loves me and that's why he had to come tonight? That he's been trying to talk to me about what I said because he wants to make sure I know that he doesn't feel the same way about me? The latter.

"Grace, about Thursday –," He doesn't even seem to care that I read his phone. Normally he freaks out at anyone looking at his phone even though the worst we'll usually find are messages from his mum saying he needs to pick up milk on his way home from school.

"Please. I never want to talk about it again. I should have never said anything, I just want to be your friend again. Please?" I sound more pleading ever I ever intended and I can't even explain how weird my throat feels, as if I am either going to begin to cry in a very guttural way or that alcohol is rising upwards.

It feels like I'm waiting for a reply for an eternity. The silence is heavy over us as we sit opposite each other on his bed. The more I think about the possible answers to my pleading, the more I expect the worst and thus the more I start to cry. He's probably just helping me out tonight because I'm drunk and he's a nice person… the nicest person, like I told Mini. Oh no, now I'm getting flashbacks to that conversation as well. Make that two pink elephants jumping on my head now.

"I'm not sure I can be." He says, looking up at me. He must see the hurt in my eyes, for he quickly shakes his head and attempts to resurrect the situation. "Not because I can't forgive you or whatever for it."

"What? What do you mean?" I am trying to hold back the disgusting taste in my mouth. I need to hear these words more than anything else.

"Because," His hand edges closer to my face and I can feel my whole body tingle in anticipation. As his fingers move to tuck some hair behind my ear however, I realize it was my body tingling in anticipation for this next movement. His face is nearing closer to mine and just as I tilt my head in the opposite direction to his, I can't hold it back anymore.

"BUCKET!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: ALOHA, hope you all enjoyed and thanks for the tremendous number of reviews for the last chapter! Hope you keep up that feedback till the very end which we are fast approaching! What you can expect from the next chapter: Hardbeck parents, Blood parents and apologies. XXXX**


	11. Don't Ignore Me

**Something There**

**Chapter 11: don't ignore me**

Frankyfitzfuck (10:43) I've heard from good sources (Alo) that there was a lot of drama last night?!

Frankyfitzfuck (10:43) Apparently you stormed off angrily (which I don't believe because this is you)

Frankyfitzfuck (10:44) AND THEN RICH WENT AFTER YOU

Frankyfitzfuck (10:45) did you and shitface finally get together?

Frankyfitzfuck (10:45) GRACE?!

Frankyfitzfuck (10:50) don't ignore me

Frankyfitzfuck (10:54) when you get over your hangover, ring me to tell me you're with shitface, okay?

* * *

><p>Apparently waking up anywhere but in your room is the most confusing moment you can ever imagine. I woke up on two separate occasions this morning and both were confusing. The first time was at around 6am and my head was pounding far too much for me to even move an inch from the position I was in, and well okay, I didn't particularly want to move an inch from the position I was in. Somehow, at some point in the night, Rich and I ended up curled up together. His arm was lovingly placed around my shoulder as my head was shoved comfortably in the crook of his shoulder. I smiled as his chest moved up and down with his breathing as I nestled my head even closer to his skin if that was even possible at this point.<p>

Obviously due to the fact that I was probably a little bit drunk still I was wrapped in the bliss of that moment, I was not considering the repercussions of anything that was happening. Now though – I can see clearly. I've been awake maybe two minutes and only just now finally getting out of the warm safety of Rich's bed. I must have woken up by the sound of him leaving the room because he's not here now. Hopefully when he woke up we weren't still entangled, because I don't want him thinking I cuddled up to him – I wouldn't do that! Rich has Jade and I feel terrible… That's his girlfriend, not me! Why do I keep getting myself into romantic situations with him?! The only solution for this is to admit I'm a terrible friend and escape now.

I dig through my tiny bag, which I had stuffed with sleepover preparations like my mary jane flats, toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, a banana and a jumper. For some reason I was extremely concerned about my breakfast when I was packing this bag and not the fact that I have to now return home, to where my Mum and Dad are, in the dress I was wearing the night before. That sounds very wise. I shake my head, placing on my mary janes and slipping my jumper on over my head. Pulling my dress as far down as I can, I start to leave his room. I can hear the sound of Rich's shower on and the faintness of Iron Maiden playing over the running water which brings a small smile to my lips. At least with him in the shower it makes my escape easier. I begin my descent down the stairs, already able to hear the chatty Mrs. Hardbeck in the kitchen. As long as I tiptoe towards the door where conveniently my coat and high heels are, I should make it safely out –

"RICHIE BOO!" I freeze in my spot on the stairs with my eyes wide as I see Mrs. Hardbeck standing before looking equally surprised for just a moment.

"Oh."

"Uh… Good morning, Mrs. Hardbeck." I say, trying to give a pleasant enough smile. She keeps opening her mouth to say something but then shutting it again. Maybe I should just do a ninja roll through the door whilst she's confused.

"Oh, hello Grace. What a nice surprise," This is Mr. Hardbeck who came bustling out when he heard the exchange (or lack of one) between me and his wife.

"We thought that might be your coat hung up, but then we figured his _new_ girlfriend might be here…" An awkward silence fell as she basically subtly asked 'why the hell are you here when you're not dating him?" And I literally have no answer for that.

"Well… Yes, we were watching a movie last night, but I ended up falling asleep. Alo was supposed to join too." I added the last sentence as a sidenote, so she would know nothing went on between us, because of course -

Oh shitty shit shit… I just had a vision. Maybe visions are for the future, but this is from the past. Okay, well, he tucked my hair behind my hair and I felt like we might… kiss, but I ended up vomiting in that helpful bucket of his. I didn't miss the bucket which I think appeased Rich enough to hold my hair back for me. What happened after that though? It must have been when I passed out, because I can't remember a single thing after that. Almost kissing though? That's a new level of terrible and I really must escape as soon as possible.

"Right," She looks over my outfit, very clearly not believing a word I just said. "Well anyway, come have breakfast, dear."

"Oh, no, no… Thank you, but I really must be getting home. I wasn't expecting to stay over the night." I say, trying to look as grateful for the offer as I can, but the frustration of still being trapped in this house when all I want to do is leave is slowly making me come across as more antsy.

"Don't be silly, you need your morning nutrients – I've made pancakes!" She says in a very over excited manner, but I simply give a soft laugh before shaking my head once more. "I'll just ring your father, I'm sure he'll be fine with it."

"NO!" I am surprised when not only do I say that word, but another voice behind me on the stairs does too. I glance up to find Rich staring at his Mum with the most aggravated look on his face I have seen in a while. I can't look away as I try to analyze how we are going about last night and the whole cuddling debacle. I guess him not even giving me a look is a sign that we are simply ignoring it.

"Just let her fucking leave, Anita." He says, continuing on with his aggravated behavior. I can't tell if this anger is directed at me, his Mum or a combination of the two. I don't understand why he would be annoyed at me though? At the end of the day, I wasn't the one who invited myself over, not the one who was stroking the other's hair and I most certainly didn't have my arm wrapped around his shoulder (mainly because my arms are too tiny for that business). So this doesn't seem exactly fair.

"Richard! Watch your language."

"Yes, apologize to your mother this instant." This is Kevin. I had kind of forgotten he was standing there because he was being so quiet.

"I'm awfully sorry, Mrs. Hardbeck, but I really must go back home. Another time I'm sure I'll have pancakes, thank you." I beam at her, hoping to relieve some of the tension between all current parties.

"Of course, dear, don't be silly! I must ring your mother today as well; it's been a while since we went on a shopping trip." Strangely my mum and Rich's get on quite well. Rich's mum is a bit intimidated by Alo's I think. My mum is much more… tepid.

"Excellent," There's another silence as I glance at Rich who is rolling his eyes at his Mum rather than paying me any sort of attention. "Right, well I'll be off. Bye Hardbecks!"

I finally complete my descent and try to hurriedly put my coat on without looking like I'm in a rush. I don't know how successful I am in that aspect. As I place my heels from last night into my bag, I dare to glance up at Rich again to find him finally looking in my direction. His face is closed off though and he manages to look away once more at lightning speed.

"Bye Rich," I say softly, completely unmoving for someone who is in a massive rush to escape the house. There's a moment silence where I can just see him chewing on the inside of his cheek.

"Richard, honestly, be polite." His Mother obviously grew extremely impatient with the long pauses between everything that we've been saying. I offer up a small smile as Rich finally groans and turns to look to me.

"Bye Grace," My smile broadens just a tad and I see he can't help but imitate my expression. Deciding I've suffered from enough awkwardness today, I give a final wave and exit the scene.

Well… It wasn't too bad. I think – and I don't want to jinx anything – that I may be on the road to getting closure with Rich. I know, I know – it doesn't make any sense and that everything that happened last night should be making my feelings grow with intensity and make me hopeful that Rich and I can be something. However I've always been a firm believer in happy endings and I just know that with or without Rich I'll get a happy ending. Most importantly he'll get his and we'll still be best friends. My love can be converted back into a non-romantically involved kind of love over time. It'll just have to.

* * *

><p>"Grace, Grace, is that you?" I hear my mother call in a slightly concerned voice as I shut the front door behind me. There goes my plan for hurtling my way up the stairs. I wonder who else she would expect to come through the door seeing as I'm 99.99% sure my father will be here waiting for me.<p>

"Yes, Mum, it's me," I instead say cheerily enough. My headache has just started pounding again though, so it's surprising I'm able to act happy right now.

"No phonecall. Worried sick. Up all night. No texts even!" My father begins to rant in nonsensical sentences. He has just walked into our foyer and is now looming over me as I clutch onto my bag even tighter than before. Okay, one more big breath, Gracey, and then recite everything you just prepared on the way over here.

"Daddy," I begin with a placating smile on my face as I try to speak in such an airy tone to attempt to make him believe he's being extremely silly. "My phone ran out of battery and as you refused to buy me a new phone, it's exceedingly difficult for me to get a charger for it. Also you knew where I was, so I'm a little confused why you were so worried about me. I'm completely fine and it's only ten AM."

I finish with a little smile which I hope exudes innocence before side-stepping him and beginning my ascent up the stairs to my room where I can hopefully ditch my bag and shower.

"What about this attire of yours?" Of course I knew I couldn't get away without being asked this question.

"The girls and I played a game of dress-up and I fell asleep in these clothes. Mini's Mum is so helpful that she washed my other clothes this morning, but I knew I should rush back home, so…" I gesture to my outfit, hoping he will understand without further questions. He opens his mouth to say something, but closes it again so I know I've won. I grin happily at both him and Mum before turning back around again.

"Get ready for our walk."

The walls of happiness crumble inside of me at the utterance of this sentence.

No, no, no, not the family walk! I can barely stand it on days when I'm not hungover, lovesick and going through a series of teenage issues, let alone when I am suffering from all three things! I want to spend the day with my dear Mr. Ben & Jerry and a marathon watching of ANTM.

"Uh… But Daddy," I begin, my pleading already completely obvious. "I've got far too much homework to do!"

"Hmm… Shouldn't you have considered this before a sleepover, Grace?" Grrr… This is a relevant question.

"It's a Blood family Sunday tradition and that's the last I'll hear about it." I inwardly groan, but outwardly I am once more surprising myself with my upbeat attitude.

"Of course! I'll just go and get ready then." I run up the stairs, regretting this choice almost immediately as the elephant jumping on my head is about to invite one of his friends over to do the same. However I am grateful for the one second of peace I now have.

Well, I'm grateful for a second until I find messages from Franky demanding to know what happened last night. It's like everywhere I turn I am reminded about it all and about Rich… I shut my laptop screen angrily before preparing myself for the next few hours of hell.

* * *

><p>"A footprint! I wonder what kind of animal made this?" My mum curiously asks, as my dad takes this opportunity to take out his nature guide and start examining it. Meanwhile I am pressing my entire being against a tree trying to get over the feeling of wanting to pass out and just the want to evaporate by the sun's rays.<p>

"I think it is a fox." My Dad concludes, giving my Mum a further explanation as to why it is, but I am blocking that out, because I can't actually stomach any talking at this moment in time. Birds are too noisy for me, so I don't know how I'm supposed to handle my Dad's raised voice.

"Right, let's move. Keep up, Gracey!" My Dad then yells and I realize they have already set off and left me on this tree. I try to keep moving forward, but I feel my bones ache beneath me and… no, no, not again. I can feel the upwards movement in my throat and before I can give any sort of warning I collapse to the ground and am vomiting all over a bed of dandelions.

"I knew it! You're hungover, aren't you?" My Father yells in a triumphant manner instead of giving me any sympathy at all.

"Grace!" My Mum cries, sounding completely shocked and disappointed all at once.

"This is terrible behavior. Next we'll be seeing you on the news promoting the use of contraceptives and how having a child at sixteen has ruined your life!" I would laugh quietly if this were under different circumstances. I am a lover of the arts and drama, but I don't think I live it quite so much as my father does. I weakly stand up from where I had just been cowering and turn to my father.

"Can you please now admit that you were wrong about my friends being bad influences?" He leans back a little in shock at my defiance. Never would I normally argue with my father without apologizing first.

"This is a matter of your friends -,"

"Yes, but the wrong friends. You said Rich, Alo and Franky were the issue with me and would lead me astray. Have I ever once come home drunk since I've been friends with them? Or name a time when I haven't got an A in a subject? Or gotten a less than perfect grade in a ballet exam?"

"Hmm…"

"I would like you to stop making judgments about my friends and see them for what good they are, okay? They are shaping me to be a better person and I wish you would see this too. From now on, please approve completely of my friendships and in return I won't slip up in a single test."

"What about this Mini and Liv? I don't think -,"

"This isn't anything to do with them…" I end there, my eyes flitting between my Mum and Dad, gaging their next reaction.

"Fine."

"I'm sorry, Daddy, for lying about last night. You won't find me in this state again."

* * *

><p>As we walk past the gates that guard our house, I see two figures standing near our front door. My stomach drops as I remember other parts from last night, some parts that felt insignificant compared to the joy of making things right with Rich… and hair tucking and things, but now in the cold light of day – and also now that I can see the two people who this directly involves – it is becoming more and more significant by the second.<p>

It doesn't surprise me that they would be waiting for me even though were not at home, because my father always puts a note on the door saying where we are and what time you can expect our return and he is _always_ accurate. Rich says this nearly doubles our chances of being robbed, which he has raised to my father once and of course my father disagreed with him, but nearly the second after Rich left that day he called up for some additional security features to be installed.

Great… After my conversation with my Dad about being hungover, I doubt he's going to be too happy with this little visit from the two friends he probably now believes led me to a life of hardcore drinking. I glance up at my father who looks less than pleased with the situation.

"You can have a conversation with them outside. I don't want these girls in my house," I can't help but laugh at the dramatics. I don't know what's happened to me, but hungover!grace sure enjoys arguing back with her father and winding him up.

"Come on, daddy, it's not like they're going to forcefeed me vodka in my room, are they?" I ask in such a light-hearted manner that I hope he sees the comedy in his rules, but I know my father well enough to know this will be far from the case.

"They're not—,"

"How about I make them a cup of tea or something?" My mum surprisingly enters the discussion with a calming statement that stops the discussion completely. I turn away from my parents, a small smile growing on my face at this. Now time to deal with this overwhelming guilt over getting angry at my supposed new friends.

"Hi," I say, approaching them cautiously. They, to my great surprise, don't seem to be angry, but look like a reflection of my own nervousness over this conversation.

"Hey," They both say in unison, standing away from the wall they had just been leaning on. I awkwardly stare on as I wait for my Dad to unlock the door. They greet my Dad in more of an upbeat tone, obviously trying to make it seem like nothing is wrong between us all.

"Let's go upstairs," I state, leading the way silently to my room. Once there we all awkwardly stand around, Liv glancing between Mini, who is looking at the floor determinedly, and me. Liv eventually lets out an annoyed sigh.

"Mini has something she wants to say," Mini looked up at Liv and I can't tell whether it's with a look of annoyance or she's just trying to get some courage to talk.

"Uh… yeah," She finally looks up at me and all I can pay attention to is the fact that she is nervously wringing her hands together. "So… I'm sorry about everything. I think I've been so rude about your friends is out of jealously or something… Well mainly because you and them – you're so cool and alternative, you know? I don't really have anything going for -,"

"Okay, Mins, you can shut up now." Liv says, her eyes becoming more and more narrowed as Mini makes her dramatic monologue.

"No, no, that was lovely." I say, raising my eyebrows in shock and forming my mouth into a genuine smile. "And I'm sorry too for having a go at you and storming off."

"So, friends again?"

"Absolutely, silly!" Mini opens her arms up to engulf both Liv and I into a big group hug. I giggle as I feel myself absolutely squished by the both of them. Mini finally releases us and gives me a curious look.

"I've got to ask though… You and Valha- I mean, Rich, you like him though, don't you?" I must immediately cringe and start to blush, because Mini starts to smile.

"It would be cute as fuck," Liv states, nudging my shoulder slightly.

"I don't think it's ever going to happen." I say in a small voice, looking down at my feet.

"Why not? Because of that stupid whore he's with?" Mini asked, letting out a small laugh.

"We both think he likes you too, just so you know." I look up once more, giving them both a slightly incredulous look.

"Yeah, because we both have fully functioning eyes." Mini adds, laughing further.

They both stay for a few more hours doing the typical cute girly stuff I thought I would do with a pair of girlfriends and I love it! TOTALLY! The only reason they leave is because I had promised my Dad I would work on any extra homework and practice my ballet recital for a few hours. Also, Mini and Liv are now 100% coming to it as well now. I told them I could waggle two extra tickets out of my teacher tomorrow and I'll leave them at the door for them. It would be nice to have friends turn up that have some appreciation for my art. Franky has been the only person who really seems enthusiastic about seeing my performances. This reminds me I must reply to Franky later with the –almost – full story of what happened last night.

Anyway I finish off a run-through of my ballet routine and am about to turn to brainstorming my Shakespeare theme essay. I have already decided to focus on how the comedic attributes of his plays can be more powerful than the tragic elements, but I must form a title as this is always where I start with essays. Unfortunately something comes to disturb me as I hear my phone ringing and I know who it is before I even look at the screen. I picked this 'my little pony' ringtone for him as a joke.

"Rich?"

* * *

><p><strong>LIFE HAS BEEN BEYOND HECTIC, BUT THERE YOU GO :D hope it was somewhat worth the wait. Next chapter is Rich's and I won't make any promises about when it'll be out, but just know it'll be out at some point in the near future! GAH thank you for being so patient with me and sticking with this story. You guys are the reason this is still going strong. <strong>

**BIG LOVE XOXO**


	12. Just Friends

**Chapter 12: Just Friends**

Violetsaregrace (22:01) Franky?

Frankyfitzfuck (22:02) ABOUT FUCKING TIME! So when are you and shitface getting married?

Violetsaregrace (22:03) Don't be silly; we're not getting married!

Frankyfitzfuck (22:03) Good, because you would make me Maid of Honour and I don't want that. Ever.

Violetsaregrace (22:05) Yes, you would be! Rich and Alo as bridesmaids obviously!

Frankyfitzfuck (22:05) But Rich'll be the groom?

Violetsaregrace (22:05) No... Rich is the bridesmaid, not the groom.

Frankyfitzfuck (22:06) Not together? STILL FUCKING NOT TOGETHER?

Violetsaregrace (22:07) We're just friends, Franky!

Frankyfitzfuck (22:07) But last night?

Violetsaregrace (22:07) Just friends.

frankyfitzfuck (22:08) Shit, you two really are idiots.

* * *

><p>Waking up late for college is extremely disorienting and I don't recommend it to anyone! Also, is it possible to have a hangover lasting more than twenty-four hours? I didn't think so, but the slight throbbing in my head is definitely giving me a good argument.<p>

Oh, fishsticks, why is my hair so uncooperative today? And I need to start a mental list of everything I need to remember to take to classes today. My French essay… Another frizzy error in my less-than-perfect hair… French essay, my Shakespeare essay – I did finish that, didn't I? I did, I did, because I finished that before Rich…

No, no, no, I actually really don't have time to think about him right now in this chaos. Even if it is pretty calming to me, like a mother duck taking care of the little duckling – if that's even a good enough comparison to this situation. No, it doesn't make sense. I am standing still trying to think of a better comparison instead of making an attempt to actually get to college on time – priorities, Gracie!

Okay, my hair will have to do like this. I'm sure I can persuade my Mum with hugs to fix my hair for my recital tonight. The recital! The recital is tonight and I should be lovely fresh this morning for my big day, but instead I feel like a pink elephant still resides in my head with one of his feet still raised in a menacing fashion to tease me with loud noises and pain.

I run down the stairs, finding my Father tapping his foot and staring at his pocket watch (he insists it makes him look more important), I smile breezily at him as if I was taking my time getting ready.

"You're late." I keep smiling, standing on tip-toe to catch his cheek with a kiss.

"Barely. I think my alarm had a malfunction this morning." Or perhaps I snoozed it five times.

Either way I manage to get the door open and get him to lead the way to our car.

"Princesses should be early risers!" I hear my Mum helpfully call from the dining room.

"So true!" My Dad shouts back to her like it's their new way of saying goodbye or something.

"Thanks, Mummy." I say with only slightly gritted teeth, before following my Dad outside.

The car ride starts off in the usual manner with him fiddling with the radio, commenting on every single station that he doesn't like and eventually landing on a track that he deems to be 'appropriate wake up music that starts the day in a productive way' before we finally set off. It's a very short car ride of about five minutes so he usually insists I walk to school as he only takes the car for 'status' purposes, but today is obviously an exception considering how late I was running.

"New mantra for today, Grace; repeat after me," I close my eyes for a second, seeking some kind of patience for this. "Full concentration, no procrastination equals excellent examinations."

"Full concentration, no procrastination equals excellent examinations." I repeat in a less motivated voice than his.

"Very good! Remember that when you're frolicking with your friends today please." I nod my head, staring out the window as I finally assess how good a day it'll actually be. I mean, I have Mini and Liv now so whatever actually happens with Rich it can't be _that_ bad. And that phone call… Well, it's made my palms slightly less clammy than they probably would have been today otherwise.

It was… enlightening.

* * *

><p>"Rich?"<p>

"Uh…hi." We both said nothing for a little while as we were both obviously hoping the other would say something first.

"Yes, Rich?"

"Uhm… Yeah, sorry about my Mum."

"Don't say sorry, I love your Mum." There was more sighing and mumbling on his end, but I just waited it out to see why he actually rang me up.

"How are you doing?"

"Better. Thank you for taking such good care of me last night." As soon as I said this I realized how it could be taken, seeing as we almost (maybe? I'm still not entirely sure) kissed last night, so I simply held my breath and waited for his reply.

"I-it's okay. I just wanted to make sure, you know, that… I mean, you were wasted last night, so we're still friends now, yeah?"

I can't really remember how I felt when he said that to me. Happy? Sad? Heartbroken? As far as I remember I'm the one who told him I wanted to be friends again, he said… What did he say again? Oh, yes, that he wasn't sure he could be? I don't get why he couldn't be then and he could be now.

All of a sudden though it didn't matter how those words went through me, because I was – I am – determined to make our friendship work. I will survive without Rich being mine in a romantic way, but I won't survive him not being mine in any way at all. All great love stories are about sacrifice and so if I want a great story, I'll have to sacrifice my feelings for him.

It'll be okay.

"Of course, silly! I meant what I said, Rich. Just forget everything I said; I want us to be friends." I only had to force half of those words to sound as excited as they did.

"Cool."

"Cool!"

* * *

><p>"Ballet-bug, I shall see you tonight at the big performance!" I remove my head from where it was leaning against the window and grin at my Dad.<p>

"Yes, I'm so excited for it!" And so is the now annoying pink elephant by the feeling of my head as it continues to thump every so often. Honestly, , shoo!

"And," He clears his throat meaning that his next question must be about my friends as he always gets so uncomfortable discussing them. "Who else will be attending this recital?"

"Well, it's you and Mum -,"

"_Yes_?" He elongates this slightly as a clear sign that he wants me to hurry up.

"Alo, Liv and Mini." I say that list so quickly that you could mistake it for me saying superfragilisticexpialidocius. (I can proudly say and spell that word!) My Dad looks at me with a scrunched up nose clearly not happy with some aspect of that.

"No Hardbeck?" I look down at my lap before shaking my head. He will be off with his super cool girlfriend at his super cool concert. I shouldn't even be upset; I don't really have a right to. He's come to so many of my recitals and regardless of whether or not it's to do something with Jade – it's Napalm Death! This is his favourite band of all time. I can't really be upset by that. There will be loads more recitals in the future, so seriously, I need to more positive about this whole thing… He still has the ticket though.

He still has the ticket! That doesn't really mean anything other than I need to get it back from him today as I need to give one of them to Mini or Liv. Of course I could easily get another two tickets from my teacher, but how bad would it be to have one empty seat amongst my seats? I'm a sell-out star, not Peter Jackson's King Kong! Sorry Kongy, but your original was galaxies better!

"No. Daddy I really need to go actually…"

"Right, well, good… I shall see you later then. Have a productive day." I fail at hiding my slight glare when he comments on how it's good that Rich will not be attending. Rich always seems to be the one that he has the biggest issue with. It must be because Rich was unfortunately not blessed with functional manners and pleasantries - Alo at least attempts that.

My parents should be grateful actually that despite my three closest friends I've managed to remain the princess that they always wanted. Frankie with her unwavering attitude towards anything female, Alo with his less hygienic and more… natural lifestyle and Rich with his Richness, it's a wonder that I'm me. They must be petrified that one day I'll come home with a Mohawk and a male jacket on – although how cool would an androgynous look be for a day?!

"An extraordinarily productive day!" I smile, letting him kiss my forehead as I exit the car.

And a productive day is what I shall have. I mean so many productive things like handing in essays, retrieving my ticket from Rich and of course the recital itself. How's that for a Monday?

* * *

><p>"That French class totally inspired me on what you should say to Rich next time you see him!" Mini says with one arm outstretched in a slightly overdramatic fashion, whilst pulling me out the door from our French class that we just had.<p>

I immediately begin to blush, I hadn't even been thinking about Rich (that much) today. Although now it's lunchtime I guess I will be thinking about him as he'll be sitting right opposite me... along with Jade. It's perfectly okay though; Mini and Liv have agreed to sit with all of us at lunch!

"Mini, shush!" I say in a poor attempt to get her to stop saying 'Rich', especially as we're approaching Alo, who looks like he combed his hair today to get it looking less chaotic.

"Voulez vous coucher avec moi?" Mini asks in a very seductive manner causing me to blush even more and make drastic shh-ing noises. Liv cackles at my side and this unfortunately perks up Alo's attention.

"Don't you agree, Alotosis?" Mini asks with a cocked eyebrow as we reach where he's stood. Despite the awful nickname that she's picked out for him today he looks overwhelmed by the direct communication she's giving.

"Uh... what?" I smile a little; it's so nice that finally they're giving him some well-deserved attention.

"If a girl came up to you and said 'voulez vous coucher avec moi', you would definitely want to shag her, right?" I can practically hear Alo gulping at this entire sentence.

"Yes... I have no fucking clue what you just said, but yeah. Definitely! Definitely times -,"

"Okay, Als, calm down a bit." These wise words came from Liv as poor Alo looks like he's about to pass out from excitement.

"Settled then," Mini begins in a very business-like manner. "You should most definitely use it on Rich."

I scrunch up my face, not daring to look at Alo, as I have no idea whether Rich would've told Alo or not about my infatuation for Rich, but I'm kind of hoping he didn't so I would just like to not look at Alo's face right now and live in complete denial about whether he knows or not. Oh dear, I confused even myself with that sentence!

"You've _already_ noticed?"

I de-scrunch my eyes very quickly.

"Noticed what? What have they already noticed?"

"You and Richaroo – the ongoing saga. Christ, your sexual tension has been going on longer than Harry Potter."

"Alo!" I chirp, before quietening down. If Alo thinks that then... No, no, it always goes back to Jade. He has Jade. However Alo is Rich's bestest friend he must know a little something about it, mustn't he?

I let myself smile for just a second. I still need Rich's ticket.

"Where is Rich? I need to go see him." This was greeted with a whooping noise from the three around me.

"Confessing your love?"

"Or just a bathroom quickie?" I give a small disgusted look at Liv and Mini who said those two things in respective order before looking at Alo hopefully.

"He's being boring and stayed in class to study History or something."

"Right, I'll be back in a bit then. You go start eating without me!"

Alo looks like I just gave him a winning lottery ticket or maybe a new cow. He must be thrilled to spend some private time with both Mini and Liv. The girls look slightly more... indifferent to it though.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Mini calls.

"Seriously that's not a lot, Mins." Liv states with a snigger that is greeted with a light hit from Mini and a truly reddening expression from Alopops.

"I'm just going to get a ticket back from him!" They all look less than convinced. Drats, but its okay because it is 50% true anyway.

I quickly walk away before they can say anything else that's embarrassing, because you really never know when my Dad is going to magically appear from behind a corner. And think about how horrible that is to lead a life! I'm just constantly living in the fear that my Dad will appear and give me some lecture on the best study techniques or chewing gum!

When I reach the History classroom door I just peek in to make sure the teacher's not sitting there (a spy for my Father!) and instead all I see is Rich talking animatedly with no-one other than Jade. I freeze. I wasn't prepared for this. Of course if it is really as innocent a conversation as I told everyone it was then what is the issue in me walking in there right now?

I sigh; about to turn away when I hear the distinctive syllable that is my name.

"Grace?" Rich asked in a tone of complete annoyance and disgust.

"Stop saying her name! Just answer the question!" Jade sounds equally annoyed and I really wonder how they can be discussing me with such hatred. What have I done?

"Fine, I don't like Gra- her. We're just friends and not even proper friends. She's just this girl that latched onto us when we were too stupid to say no, okay? Nothing else!"

I stop thinking. I stop doing anything apart from staring at them. She looks happy with his response and she moves forward to embrace him. As he moves forward too, the thing directly in his line of vision is me standing there stupidly behind the glass. I don't read his expression, because that painful second of eye contact is enough to get me running off towards... I don't know where.

I still can't think. All I know is that I am excelling in my multitasking skills – running and crying, a combination I never thought would be so effortless.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: No excuses, no promises. I just present you with the slightly shit chapter that is sadly on another cliffhanger so let's hope I don't disappear for a century like last time! And hopefully you still all care PLEASE PLEASE PRETTY PLEASE xoxo**


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